AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald
Heath Aston
Sun-Herald state political editor
A PRIEST accused of sexually abusing altar boys throughout the 1980s was sheltered by the Catholic Church in the parish of Father Finian Egan, who is facing charges of indecent assault and rape.
A report released last week detailed the accusations against the priest, who allegedly assaulted boys in the dioceses of Armidale and Parramatta between 1981 and 1992.
Despite being moved from a number of dioceses and being charged with serious sexual offences against a boy in 1987 – charges that were later dropped – the priest, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was not defrocked until 2005.
The report by Federal Court judge Antony Whitlam, QC, criticised the former bishop of Armidale, Henry Kennedy, who is now dead, for failing to stop the priest after complaints followed him from parish to parish.
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