Charges against archbishop prompt call to stand aside

AUSTRALIA
SBS

By Manny Tsigas
18 MAR 2015

Archbishop Philip Wilson is the most senior Catholic clergyman in the world to face such a charge.

But some Catholics are defending his reaction to the charge.

Archbishop Philip Wilson has been charged with one count of concealing a child-sex allegation, an allegation made against a priest, Jim Fletcher, in the 1970s.

Both men were working in the Maitland Diocese of New South Wales at the time, but they went on to meet very different fates.

In 2001, Philip Wilson was appointed Archbishop of Adelaide.

In 2006, Jim Fletcher died — two years after being jailed for raping a 13-year-old boy between 1989 and 1991.

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