Catholic church accused of sending pedophile priests - including man with a 'fetish' for children going into confession - to a Melbourne parish because it was POOR

By Nicole Low
Daily Mail
November 25, 2015

http://tinyurl.com/p23phju

Father Peter Searson carried a gun to school and had a fetish for children going to confession

Former Holy Family Primary School principal Graeme Sleeman told the inquiry the church received hundreds of complaints about Searson but it did not care because Doveton was a poor area

Julie Stewart, a former student at Holy Family Primary School, said Searson had sexually abused her in confession before telling her 'the Lord forgives you'

When Searson died in 2009, 15 priests and a bishop from the Melbourne Archdiocese paid their respects despite his behaviour with children

Four Doveton priests, all now dead, are known to have abused children during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s

The Catholic Church sent a string of pedophile priests, from the 1970s to 1990s, to a poor Melbourne parish because it did not care about disadvantaged parishioners, an inquiry has heard.

One of the pedophile priests sent to Doveton, 34km south of Melbourne, left because he was having sex with a number of women, while his successor told a girl he indecently assaulted in confession 'the Lord forgives you', the child abuse royal commission heard.

Former Holy Family Primary School principal Graeme Sleeman told the commission on Wednesday church authorities did not care about parishioners in Doveton, a disadvantaged, low socio-economic area.

'I believed and I am convinced now that the Melbourne archdiocese had no concern for the parishioners of Holy Family School Doveton and what priests they sent to them,' Mr Sleeman said.

'The only way something could be drastically changed was for those parishioners to be empowered with the skills and the knowledge of how to change some serious matters that were being inflicted upon them,' Mr Sleeman said.

'I was prepared to fight with them but it was very much their fight to change the impositions that the Melbourne archdiocese was inflicting on them.'

Mr Sleeman said the church had hundreds of complaints against Father Peter Searson, whose strange behaviour included carrying a gun to school and having a 'fetish' for children going to confession.

But Searson always denied the allegations and church authorities did not take action because the claims were not substantiated, the inquiry heard.

Mr Sleeman, who resigned in frustration in 1986, said he was in a 'diabolical situation'.

'How did I look after 400-and-something kids when we've got this raving lunatic loose?'

Mr Sleeman said he became convinced Searson was sexually abusing boys and girls after grade four student Julie Stewart ran out of confession screaming in 1985.

Ms Stewart, now 40, told the inquiry Searson made her sit on his lap and indecently assaulted her during confession in 1984 and 1985.

He would say 'do you love Father' and ask her to kiss him on the lips which she did.

She told the commission she began wearing stockings or tracksuit pants to confession in an attempt to make it more difficult for Searson to abuse her, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

She said during her last confession, Searson placed her on his lap and pushed his erect penis against her.

'He whispered in my ear, "You are a good girl. The Lord forgives you,"' Ms Stewart told the inquiry.

She ran away screaming and did not go to confession again.

A teacher brought her to see Mr Sleeman but she did not confide in the principal about the abuse.

'I still have the visions of that little girl coming out,' Mr Sleeman told the inquiry.

'I came to the firm conviction that Searson had molested her. That is the day that I became extremely concerned about what other children in my care were going to be damaged by this guy.'

Mr Sleeman was sent to Holy Family school in 1982, after all the nuns departed overnight.

'No one knew why,' he said.

Mr Sleeman said his first Doveton parish priest was Father Victor Rubeo, who sought the principal's help because he was having serious issues with a number of women in the parish with whom he was having sexual relationships.

Four Doveton priests, all now dead, are known to have abused children during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s - Searson, Rubeo, Wilfred Baker and Thomas O'Keeffe.

Four people said they were sexually abused between 1974 and 1985 by Searson.

The church paid, via the Melbourne Response program, $291,000 to three victims. It paid Ms Ms Stewart $25,000 in 1988.

Searson died in 2009 before he had to face any child sex abuse charges.