AUSTRALIA
Illawarra Mercury
Kate McIlwain@kmcilwain
6 Feb 2017
More than one in every nine Catholic priests in Wollongong were alleged child molesters between 1950 and 2010, the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse heard on Monday.
In the opening address of the Commission’s 50th public hearing, where dozens of senior church members are scheduled to appear over the next three weeks, the Diocese of Wollongong was listed as one of the five areas with the highest proportion of priests who were alleged child sex abusers.
“11.7% of priests from the Diocese of Wollongong were alleged perpetrators – Counsel assisting the royal commission Gail Furness”
“[Overall] 11.7 per cent of priests from the Diocese of Wollongong were alleged perpetrators,” counsel assisting the royal commission Gail Furness, SC, said in her opening address.
According to a detailed breakdown of the data, Wollongong’s history of abuse began in the 1960s, when 11.2 per cent of priests were alleged to be perpetrators.
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