AUSTRALIA
The Australian
Dan Box
From:The Australian
November 14, 2012
THE Catholic Bishop of Newcastle, whose northern NSW diocese has allegedly experienced some of the worst child sex abuse, said it was possible a pedophile ring once existed among its clergy.
Bishop Bill Wright said his staff had “tried to join the dots” between individual abusive priests.
“One priest who was abusing someone was in a parish next to another priest who turned out to be an abuser. Or one known abuser contributing funds to the defence of another known abuser,” Bishop Wright said.
“We’ve not exactly been able to join those dots. What we haven’t got is evidence of them passing victims around, what you would call a ring. It’s possible.”
The Maitland-Newcastle diocese has paid out at least $15 million in settlements to more than 100 victims, while unofficial estimates put the total number of victims at hundreds more.
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