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Special Commission of Inquiry into Catholic Church Sex Abuse Cover-Ups to Proceed in Newcastle

By Neil Keene
Herald Sun
July 2, 2013

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/special-commission-of-inquiry-into-catholic-church-sex-abuse-cover-ups-to-proceed-in-newcastle/story-fnii5s3y-1226672767840


EVIDENCE of more than 50 years of Catholic Church cover-ups, including a paedophile priest sent overseas to escape scrutiny, is to be aired finally at a special commission of inquiry in Newcastle.

The inquiry's second chapter got under way yesterday. The senior counsel assisting the commission, Julia Lonergan SC, said documents from the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese showed that as far back as 1953, paedophile priest Denis McAlinden sexually abused a young girl.

Her parents reported the abuse to the church to no avail.

A later victim - a boy who was abused for years from the age of five at the hands of McAlinden - told his own parish priest what was happening during one of his first confessions, but it never went further.

"This boy was given penance, apparently for his sin in being abused by that priest," Ms Lonergan said.

The inquiry heard a handwritten letter in 1976 from then diocesan vicar-general, Monsignor Patrick Cotter, to Bishop Leo Clarke talked about McAlinden's paedophile tendencies, but they were dismissed as "not extremely serious".

"He feels no such inclination towards the mature female but towards the little ones only," Monsignor Cotter wrote.

"There has never been any physical assault or damage, but inevitably it leaves a psychological scar on the child's mind and attitude and religious outlook."

By the time the letter was written, church officials had agreed to accept McAlinden's resignation and send him overseas.

Ms Lonergan said other documents from 1993 showed McAlinden confessed to Father Brian Lucas - now one of the church's most senior figures in Australia. While Mr Lucas and others recommended McAlinden be suspended, the church chose not to approach police due to lack of evidence. It took another six years before police got involved.

Maitland-Newcastle Diocese Bishop Bill Wright offered an unreserved apology yesterday "for all those who suffered as a result of acts or omissions of members of this diocese in relation to matters before this special commission of inquiry".




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