Retired Bishop Michael Malone of Maitland-Newcastle diocese told the New South Wales commission of inquiry he was out of his depth in matters of child protection.

Although he knew of confidential files on abuse by diocesan clergy, some of which were in his own office, Bishop Malone said he never thoroughly examined any of the files. One file was so big he couldn't jump over it, he said.

Bishop Malone also admitted he tried to "play it down a bit" to defend the Church's image, because "I was conscious of the fact that those issues of sexual abuse were in fact impinging on the stability of the Church".

"I think the early years of my being bishop were fairly bumbling when it came to dealing with sexual abuse . . . I was not adequately handling these matters," the retired bishop said.

Bishop Malone led Maitland-Newcastle diocese from 1995 till 2011.

He said all his predecessor Bishop Leo Clarke did when he handed over the diocese was slide an ancient ornamental cross across the desk and point to a "rather large briefcase that sat in the corner of his office".

When Bishop Malone asked, "Are you going to show me where the skeletons are, where the secret things are?" Bishop Clarke merely responded, "Ah, you will find out".

Bishop Malone said he had "an epiphany" about child abuse in 2004 when the NSW Ombudsman criticised his decision not to stand down a priest accused of abusing a child.

But he agreed that a "closeted" attitude remained "alive and well" in many areas of the Church, and the resistance he met from priests did not improve with time.

"I think there were a number of people hoping I'd just go away," he said.

Sources:

The Australian

ABC Lateline

The Australian

Sydney Morning Herald

Image: Daily Life

The priest, Father Denis McAlinden, also moved from Maitland-Newcastle diocese to New Zealand for several months in 1984, relieving in country parishes in Hamilton diocese.

A woman from Hamilton diocese who said she was sexually abused as a child by McAlinden was paid compensation by Maitland-Newcastle diocese after she travelled to Australia with the support of Bishop Denis Browne of Hamilton.

The New South Wales commission of inquiry heard that Church authorities first received a report that McAlinden was abusing children in 1954.

He continued to abuse children aged as young as four or five over four decades.

The inquiry was told that one boy who was abused by McAlinden was required to do penance after he told his parish priest, "apparently for his sin in being abused".

In 1959, McAlinden wrote to his then bishop, asking to be sent on missionary work, despite the bishop having received at least one report of such abuse.

"It seems a shame that hundreds of thousands of people are just clamouring for the Faith in Africa and are deprived through a shortage of priests. In this way, I feel I could still serve the diocese," McAlinden wrote.

During the 1990s, the late Bishop Leo Clarke of Maitland-Newcastle asked McAlinden to petition the Holy See in Rome to request his laicisation.

"Your good name will be protected by the confidential nature of this process," Bishop Clarke wrote. "A speedy resolution of this matter would be in your interest as I have it on good authority that some people are threatening to take it to the police."

Bishop Clarke also wrote to the apostolic pro-nuncio in Canberra, asking him to "use his network communications to help expedite ... a very delicate matter".

Eventually the diocese paid McAlinden a pension after he agreed to retire to England and "retire from priestly ministry". In fact he travelled to the Philippines and resumed ministry.

McAlinden died in Western Australia in 2005 while NSW police were seeking to extradite him.

Sources:

The Australian

The Australian

Sydney Morning Herald

Newcastle Herald

Broken Rites

Image: Newcastle Herald

The NSW inquiry on abuse will look at whether the Church protected predatory priests in the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle.

The inquiry will also hear evidence from Father Brian Lucas, the secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishop's Conference, and the retired bishop of the Maitland-Newcastle, Bishop Michael Malone.

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The diocese, in the Hunter Valley north of Sydney, has settled at least 78 claims, with about 25 outstanding.

These settlements are for victims of abuse alleged to have taken place between the 1960s and 1990s, involving at least 10 alleged perpetrators, including priests and teachers.

Many relate to one priest, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and they include what is thought to be the largest such settlement in Australia, of more than $NZ2.5 million.

Lawyer John Ellis, whose firm of David Beggs and Associates has negotiated many of the settlements, said the culture of alleged abuse was likely to be worse in Maitland-Newcastle than in other Catholic dioceses in Australia.

"Maitland-Newcastle had a large number of serial offenders, some of whom operated over many years, even decades," Mr Ellis said. "The other striking feature is the strong evidence of senior Church officials knowing about the abuse and doing nothing to prevent it."

There is no suggestion that current diocesan officials knew about the historical abuse, although police are investigating "alleged cover-ups" of assaults by one priest.

Mr Ellis said the diocese has a dark history. "What has happened in that diocese over the period, and the claims that we've dealt with go over several decades, is just an extraordinary.

"Concentration of claims over that period of time is quite in excess of anything we're aware of in any other diocese," he said.

The cost of settlements has taken its toll on the diocese, whose insurers are understood not to cover any claim where it can be shown the Church had prior knowledge of the alleged abuse.

Bishop Bill Wright of Maitland-Newcastle has said the costs "were a factor" in a 2010 decision to sell a number of aged-care facilities operated by the diocese across the Hunter region.

Sources:

The Australian

ABC

Image: OZinOH

The review by a working party in Maitland-Newcastle diocese, north of Sydney, recommended continuing the programme.

But it said further invitations to overseas priests should be delayed until appropriate polices and structure are put in place, and that the programme should be part of a "well-discerned broader plan" to meet future pastoral needs.

It also said attention should be given to the age, health and experience of those invited; the qualities needed for integration into the Australian culture; the pastoral needs of their home dioceses; their preparation before they come; and the need for appropriate contracts.

The working group said the introduction of overseas priests in 2008 coincided with a difficult period in the diocese, when clergy morale was low and the local presbyterate was not functioning as a united body.

Communication between the then bishop and diocesan clergy was inadequate. Some parish priests were not aware they were to receive an overseas priest until the bishop rang them. This led to, at best, a lack of enthusiasm for overseas priests, who were seen as a "band-aid solution" to pastoral needs.

Among the issues diocesan priests felt should have been dealt with were overseas priests' lack of familiarity with the Roman Rite and knowledge of local liturgical customs; the egalitarian culture of the Church in Australia compared with the hierarchical culture to which the overseas priests had belonged; language and communication skills; and cultural differences including skills needed in everyday domestic life in Australia.

The overseas priests themselves reported they were used to discussing their faith when they got together and found it strange that the Australian priests didn't do that.

The overwhelming majority of 3818 parishioners who responded to a survey in seven parishes where overseas priests had worked believed their presence had a positive effect on the faith and spirituality of their parishes, and that the programme should continue.

Source:

Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle

Image: Catholic Vocations Ministry Australia