The Dallas Morning News

Government inquiry cites Dallas Morning News findings on international transfers of pedophile Catholic priests

By Reese Dunklin/Reporter
rdunklin@dallasnews.com
12:47 pm on October 12, 2012

The Roman Catholic Church has moved sexually abusive priests across international borders and kept them in ministry, criminal authorities in Australia have concluded.

Their finding mirrors that of our landmark 2004-2005 investigative series, Runaway Priests: Hiding in Plain Sight. We identified over 200 cases in which accused clerics escaped justice by going abroad.

Police in the Australian state of Victoria, in a report to parliament there, cite a case I first brought to light: The Salesians of Don Bosco religious order moved a priest to Samoa in 1998, when he had one child molestation conviction on his record and was facing a new criminal investigation. The little South Pacific island nation had no extradition treaty with Australia – and…