AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun
MATT JOHNSTON HERALD SUN AUGUST 20, 2014
CARDINAL George Pell has been blasted by state Labor MP Frank McGuire over evidence provided about a paedophile priest during a parliamentary inquiry.
Calling for a fresh investigation into the Catholic Church’s response to decades-long sex offences committed in Doveton — uncovered in the 1980s and 1990s — Mr McGuire accused Cardinal Pell of glossing over crimes of former priest Peter Searson.
He said that when Cardinal Pell was questioned about Searson at the recent Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child sex abuse, Cardinal Pell said “no conviction was recorded for Searson on sexual misbehaviour”.
Mr McGuire told parliament while courts did not convict Searson, documents he had obtained showed that the church’s Melbourne Response, led by independent commissioner Peter O’Callaghan, had found Fr Searson was “guilty of sexual abuse of two girls”.
Last night the church fired back at Mr McGuire.
A statement released says: “in his evidence to the inquiry, Cardinal Pell drew attention to Mr O’Callaghan’s investigation into Fr Searson”.
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