Paedophile Priest Told to Pray to End Sexual Attraction to Children, Royal Commission Hears
By David Marchese
A notorious paedophile priest who molested dozens of boys raised concerns about his sexual attraction to children before entering the seminary, the child abuse royal commission has heard. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse hearing in Newcastle is investigating the Catholic Church's response to widespread paedophilia in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese. Much of the probe is focusing on the abuse by paedophile priest Vincent Ryan, who has already served 14 years in jail for abusing boys between 1972 and 1991. He was released from jail in 2010 and is currently awaiting sentencing on separate child sex offences. Giving evidence today, Sister Evelyn Woodward was questioned about her knowledge of abuse carried out by Ryan on altar boys and about whom she told in the church hierarchy. Counsel assisting the commission Stephen Free also probed Sister Evelyn about letters Ryan wrote to her detailing his history of sexual attraction to boys. Sister Evelyn said that in the letters, which she said she did not receive until after Ryan was admitted to the priesthood, he admitted an early sexual attraction to children.
Mr Free: In one of those letters he actually talked about his sexual attraction to boys for a considerable time and in fact before he entered the seminary, do you remember that? Sister Evelyn: Yes I do. Mr Free: The priest had told him, effectively, if he said his prayers, God would look after him? Sister Evelyn: Yeah. Ryan entered the seminary at the age of 19 before serving in parishes across the Maitland-Newcastle diocese in the 1970s and 1980s. When church officials were made aware of his abuse of boys in 1975, he was sent to Melbourne to see a psychiatrist before returning to the Hunter region after completing just one session. Survivor ended up jailed with abuser The commission heard from a New South Wales man who was abused as a boy by Ryan, while serving as an altar boy in the 1980s. Now 46, the man described how Ryan began abusing him at the age of 13, including an occasion at his grandparents' house near Maitland. The man, known to the commission as CNE, said he was once being abused by Ryan at church when a male parishioner walked into the room. "He looked directly at Father Ryan standing there holding my head with his erect penis in his other hand," CNE said. "He turned around and walked out. He didn't even say a word." CNE explained how he abused a child himself when he was 14 years old and was later charged by police before being sent to Sydney's Long Bay Correctional Centre. He was horrified to find Ryan in the same prison. "He was actually living in the wing next to me and we went to the same exercise yard," CNE said. "I wanted to kill him. He stayed right away from me." Former Bishop defends not defrocking priest
Emeritus Bishop of Maitland-Newcastle Michael Malone was questioned about his time in the diocese in the mid-1990s, around the time Vince Ryan was charged by police. Bishop Malone said he was given a "five-minute" handover by the previous Bishop, Leo Clarke, and when he asked about whether there was anything else he needed to know, Bishop Clarke replied "you will find out". Bishop Malone was asked about the diocese's treatment of sexual abuse as a "moral problem" and the diocese's decision not to defrock Ryan, allowing him to claim his pension after being released from jail. The Bishop said the church was trying to protect the community and he faced a dilemma about whether to keep Ryan in the church or "cut him loose". "I think it's pretty obvious that the church responded very badly." The commission's hearing adjourned for the day following Bishop Malone's evidence. The hearing will resume tomorrow morning, with psychiatrist, Peter Evans, to be questioned.
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