Special Inquiry Stress Leave for Priest

By Ian Kirkwood
Newcastle Herald
July 19, 2013

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/1649967/special-inquiry-stress-leave-for-priest/?cs=391

ONE senior priest was stressed enough to be excused from giving evidence for a week and a second denied he was resisting being questioned, in a tense day of evidence at the Special Commission of Inquiry in Newcastle on Friday.

Having angered sections of the public gallery for his inability to recall key events during his five years as second in charge of the Maitland-Newcastle diocese of the Catholic Church, Father William Burston was excused from giving further evidence for a week after about 90 minutes of yesterday's hearing.

For the rest of the day, Hamilton parish priest Monsignor Allan Hart, who preceded Father Burston as vicar-general of the diocese, was questioned by counsel assisting, Julia Lonergan, who said that if Monsignor Hart did not let her finish her questions they would "be in for a very tortuous afternoon".

Like Bishop Michael Malone before them, the two senior Church figures are being examined over their conduct in relation to police investigations concerning two paedophile priests - Denis McAlinden, who died in a church-run facility in Western Australia in 2005, and Jim Fletcher, who died in jail in 2006.

Father Burston, a qualified psychologist who ran Centacare for 20 years while being vicar-general from 1996 to 2001 and deputy vicar-general until 2005, was cross-examined by counsel for the diocese, Lachlan Gyles.

As he had done on Wednesday and Thursday, Father Burston agreed he had little if any independent memory of many of the matters being put to him about the Church's handling of the McAlinden and Fletcher matters.

After nearly an hour of evidence, Mr Gyles asked Father Burston about the pressure he had faced on Thursday when he was approached by a member of the public before giving evidence and then followed down Church Street by protesters afterwards.

He told Mr Gyles that he had been "rattled, a little bit" by what Commissioner Margaret Cunneen later described as "regrettable incidents".

The counsel assisting in Father Burston's section, David Kell, asked if Mr Gyles was asking for Father Burston to come back later when his "recollection might be better" when he wasn't so stressed.

Mr Gyles said this was not the case, but he pointed out that Father Burston was 77 years old with a "cognitive impairment" caused by 10 general anaesthetics in eight years, and he was having to remember events from decades before.

After a short adjournment, Ms Cunneen excused Father Burston until next Friday, when the stress caused by the "unfortunate, rude and regrettable events" of Wednesday were behind him.

Monsignor Hart, who joined a seminary in 1959, was ordained at Hamilton in 1966 and served at various parishes including Shortland, Hamilton, Cessnock, Lambton, Toronto and Maitland before becoming vicar-general in 1990 and returning to Hamilton as parish priest in 1995.

Monsignor Hart was also unable to recall seeing any confidential files kept at the diocese, and said Bishop Leo Clarke was responsible for disciplining McAlinden until he, Bishop Clarke, handed over to Bishop Malone.

Bishop Clarke died in 2006.

Monsignor Hart said he had heard "whispers from parishioners" about McAlinden from 1990 and said he took victim AJ's 1993 allegation against the priest to Bishop Clarke.

Bishop Clarke had appointed a committee that included Father Brian Lucas - then a priest in the Sydney diocese and now secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishop's Conference - to deal with matters such as McAlinden.

He did not think Father Lucas handled AJ's complaint "appropriately", saying he was "short and abrupt" on the phone with her and should have talked to her face-to-face.

He agreed that McAlinden could still dress as a priest after his faculties had been removed by Bishop Clarke.

He said it was "likely" Bishop Clarke was referring to McAlinden's paedophilia in a letter to the disgraced priest that said "in the light of your health I hearby confirm your retirement from priestly ministry".

He said McAlinden was at least partly "driving the agenda" to discipline him because he was telling the diocese where he wanted to live.

The hearing continues in public session on Tuesday.