AUSTRALIA
The Telegraph
AAP
September 13, 2012
A NSW bishop’s refusal to publicly debate the need for a royal commission into sex abuse by clergy shows the Catholic Church continues to hide from the issue, a Greens MP says.
Bishop William Wright, of the Maitland-Newcastle diocese, was invited by NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge to speak on the matter at a public forum in Newcastle on Sunday.
But in a statement, Father Barry Tunks, vicar-general of the diocese, said the invitation was declined as the question of a royal commission was a “party political” one the bishop had declined to canvass.
He said Bishop Wright had made it known that it was for the government to determine if any public inquiry would take place and what form it would take.
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