AUSTRALIA
Latrobe Valley Express

By Louis Nelson
Nov. 15, 2012

The Catholic Church is investigating fresh allegations of sexual abuse by a priest within Gippsland; however, if current church protocols stand, the allegations may never be made public.

While Catholic diocese of Sale’s Bishop Christopher Prowse would give no further details of the investigation into the priest, who was now deceased, he said he was confident the church could respond to the victim’s claims appropriately.

In welcoming Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s announcement of a royal commission into child sex abuse in an interview with The Express on Tuesday, Bishop Prowse defended the church’s tradition of handling sexual abuse allegations in-house.

This comes amid growing calls for the Catholic Church to adopt mandatory reporting of abuse allegations to police, something Bishop Prowse said the church would oppose in the context of allegations being made within confession.