AUSTRALIA
ABC News
By Mazoe Ford
Former Moree Catholic priest Father John Joseph Farrell “only fondled genitals as it was his way of showing affection” a church official allegedly told the parent of an abused alter boy, a royal commission has heard.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is looking into the behaviour of Father Farrell, who sexual abused alter boys in Moree in the 1980s, and how the Catholic Diocese of Armidale and Parramatta handled complaints about him.
Karolyn Graham told the inquiry that in 1984 her former husband, Patrick, went to see the Vicar-General of the Armidale Diocese, Monsignor Frank Ryan, after their nine-year-old son Michael McGroder revealed he had been touched inappropriately by Father Farrell.
“Monsignor Ryan asked [my husband] not to go to police as it would be traumatic for Michael and the family and asked whether we wanted to see our boy in a witness stand being torn to pieces,” Ms Graham told the royal commission.
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