BishopAccountability.org

Church Bought Flight for Priest

Sky News
July 1, 2013

http://www.skynews.com.au/local/article.aspx?id=884217


Catholic Church leaders bought a one-way plane ticket to New Guinea in 1976 for known Hunter Valley pedophile priest Denis McAlinden, a special NSW commission of inquiry has heard.

In the Supreme Court in Newcastle on Monday, counsel assisting the commission, Julia Lonergan, outlined testimony that would be presented by witnesses and through documents during the next three weeks.

The inquiry, before Commissioner Margaret Cunneen, is examining how police and church officials handled child sexual abuse allegations involving McAlinden and another Hunter Valley Catholic priest, James Fletcher.

Ms Lonergan said church documents showed McAlinden, who died in 2005, was bought the plane ticket despite church officials knowing he had repeatedly abused young girls and boys in a variety of parishes from 1953.

Also appearing at Monday's hearing was Maitland/Newcastle Bishop William Wright, who read a prepared statement of 'unreserved' apology that acknowledged abuse by McAlinden and Fletcher, who died in jail in 2008.

Bishop Wright described the pair as sexual predators who used their positions to gain access to children and conceal their acts.

'I acknowledge that the children, so abused, sometimes suffered further hurt when they were not believed because the offender was a priest,' he said.

'I acknowledge that when matters were reported, church authorities sometimes failed to act or to act effectively to support abused children and their families or to ensure that other children were protected from abuse by these offenders in the future.'

Bishop Wright said that failures by church leaders exacerbated real and enduring harm to victims and their families, who also suffered through the actions of other people in the community when their stories became public.

'I feel outraged and disgusted at the sexual assault of children by men who betrayed their positions of trust, their sacred calling and the basic tenants of our Christian faith,' Bishop Wright said.

He said he had directed Catholic Church personnel to cooperate fully with all inquiries into sexual abuse, provide all documents and ensure full transparency.




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