Parents call for priest friend of Cardinal George Pell to resign

By Lucie Morris-Marr
Herald Sun
January 6, 2016

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/parents-call-for-priest-friend-of-cardinal-george-pell-to-resign/news-story/886c87f5dd9c29b260cc6f74def01801

Cardinal George Pell delivers mass to the children at St Mary’s cathedral in Sydney.

Fr John Walshe leaves the royal commission in Ballarat in December 2015.

PARENTS at two Melbourne Catholic primary schools are demanding the resignation of their priest, who recently defended Cardinal George Pell.

In their first group protest meeting last night, parents from St Patrick’s Parish Primary in Mentone and St John Vianney’s in Parkdale are set to make a plan to call for scandal-hit Father John Walshe to quit his post.

In December, Fr Walshe gave evidence at the royal commission about his recollection of a 1993 phone call between Cardinal George Pell and a child abuse victim.

He had been asked to make a statement by Cardinal Pell’s legal team.

Shortly afterwards, it emerged Fr Walshe had some years earlier been accused of abusing a teenage seminarian in the early 1980s after the pair had been drinking together.

However, a spokesman for Fr Walshe told the Herald Sun he was getting widespread community support, including a standing ovation at a recent mass.

“Since these matters have been made public, Fr Walshe has received an enormous show of support from his parishioners and involved school families, and is looking forward to continuing to serve his community,” he said.

In 2012, the victim, John Roach, received an apology and $75,000 compensation after the Catholic Diocese of Melbourne accepted he had been sexually abused by Fr Walshe.

Fr Walshe denies he abused Mr Roach, saying he had engaged in “consensual conduct”, and was sexually naive and emotionally vulnerable.

Nonetheless, a parent of two children at St Patrick’s told the Herald Sun many of the parents “just want Walshe gone”.

“We don’t want him at the school any more,” the parent said. “As the moral compass for so many children, his position is now untenable.

“Everyone was appalled and shocked by the allegation that he abused a young man he had power over, so we just want him to resign.”

According to another parent the momentum to oust Fr Walshe has built up during the Christmas break.

“Emails and texts have been flying around the parents who are rallying together to make sure he’s gone by the start of the new term,” the parent said.

Mr Roach was 18 in 1982 when the incident took place, while Fr Walshe had recently been ordained and was in his early 20s.