AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald
CATHOLIC congregations in the Hunter were read a letter from their bishop yesterday defending the way the church deals with child sexual abuse at the hands of priests.
The letter, by the Bishop of the Newcastle-Maitland diocese, Bill Wright, was also posted on the diocese’s website on Friday.
A spokeswoman said the letter was written before Premier Barry O’Farrell’s Friday afternoon announcement of an inquiry into aspects of the controversy.
It was distributed with instructions to be read at yesterday’s services but the spokeswoman could not say whether it was read out at every church. In his letter, Bishop Wright referred to a Newcastle Herald article of last Thursday that accompanied an opinion piece by Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox, in which he called on the premier to establish a royal commission into sexual abuse by Catholic clergy.
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