RNZ has asked the Christchurch bishop, Paul Martin, to release files the church has on Father Cornelius O’Brien.
Martin said he would, but first had to sort out privacy issues and, until then, turned down requests for an interview.
O’Brien arrived in New Zealand from Ireland in 1963 and served at least seven parishes in Canterbury and the West Coast.
A church investigator’s report in 2017 noted that in 1976 O’Brien was convicted of indecency with a 10-year-old.
The report said he had engaged in a “litany of offending against young boys in various parishes”.
The investigator’s report said The Church had a “comprehensive file” on his case, of assaults spanning 13 years and two other Canterbury towns.
In 1976 O’Brien returned to the UK.
He died, still a priest, in East Anglia six years ago.
One man who was abused by O’Brien when he was a child, George Russell, said “the church should be opening its books.
“It’s only dealt with me, it hasn’t dealt with the other ones.”
By coming forward, Russell has now been put in touch with another Canterbury man whom O’Brien attacked starting when he was four-years-old.
He is now in his 50s.
It was time for the church to stop concealing abuse cases, both men say.
“It is opening up a big can of worms, a lot more than probably’s ever been released by the church,” the second man said.
In July, Russell wrote to the Pope, to say he was pleased there was a Pontiff who was acknowledging the extent of clergy abuse worldwide.
Source
- radionz.co.nz
- Image: YouTube
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