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An Australian investigation about police handling of abuse in the Church has found evidence to warrant prosecution of a senior church official.
A special commission was set up after accusations that a police investigation into child sexual abuse allegations in Maitland-Newcastle diocese was a sham.
Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox asserted there was a “Catholic mafia” in the New South Wales police which covered up crimes.
He claimed he had been forced to stand down from an investigation into allegations about two paedophile priests, Frs Denis McAlinden and James Fletcher.
The special commission’s report, delivered to the New South Wales state government on May 30, found no evidence to support Detective Chief Inspector Fox’s claims.
He subsequently told Fairfax he stood by his actions and would ”walk the same path” if such matters came before him again.
Commissioner Margaret Cunneen determined that a number of senior Catholic clergy intentionally misled investigations and were unreliable witnesses.
The conduct of some senior clergy was also called ”inexcusable”.
The commission found that information supplied to the police by Bishop Michael Malone, head of Maitland Newcastle diocese from 1995 to 2011, was both ”late and inaccurate”.
Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference general secretary Fr Brian Lucas was found to have failed to protect children in attempting to have Fr McAlinden resign from ministry, rather than reporting him to police.
The commission also found there is sufficient evidence to warrant the prosecution of a senior church official.
In an initial response to the commission’s findings, Bishop Bill Wright of Maitland-Newcastle diocese said the report had his complete respect.
But he said reading it will be a bitter exercise for members of the diocese.
Bishop Wright, in a video posted to YouTube, reiterated previous apologies to victims, their friends and families and others.
He said his was not the only church to have had abusive priests, and it was not the only institution to have failed to protect children.
“However none of that diminishes the historical realities that we as a diocese have to deal with,” he noted.
“I believe that the Cunneen report will be a significant step in that process.”
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