AUSTRALIA
The West Australian
BY ANNETTE BLACKWELL
June 25, 2014
The decision by an Australian bishop to stand aside a NSW priest because of complaints he molested children led to Vatican infighting which pitched powerful bodies against one another.
It also led to a decision that has ramifications across the globe as to how Catholic bishops can deal with priests who are suspected child sexual abusers.
The royal commission into child sexual abuse at a Sydney hearing is looking at how the Catholic Church under its own law – canon law – deals with priests or religious against whom allegations have been made.
In particular, it is looking at the case of John Gerard Nestor, who was a priest in the Wollongong diocese in NSW when he was charged with the indecent assault of a teenage altar boy in 1996. He was acquitted.
The Archbishop of Adelaide Philip Wilson, who was the bishop of Wollongong in the late 90s, stood Nestor aside when he refused to go to a clinic for assessment as recommended by the church’s internal procedure, Towards Healing.
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