AUSTRALIA
ABC News
By Dan Cox
A victim of a Hunter Valley paedophile priest says a Catholic bishop told him to “keep the faith” the day his abuser was found guilty.
The man known as AH was abused by Maitland-Newcastle priest James Fletcher and is the first victim to have given evidence at the New South Wales Special Commission of Inquiry’s public hearings in Newcastle.
The inquiry is investigating claims the Catholic church covered up the crimes of Fletcher and another priest, Denis McAlinden.
AH said those responsible for the alleged cover-up of child sexual abuse by clergy must be held accountable.
He told the inquiry the day Fletcher was found guilty of abusing him, the bishop at the time Michael Malone rang and asked him to “keep the faith”.
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