AUSTRALIA
Northern Daily Leader
Rachel Browne
13 Sep 2016
A senior Catholic Church official advised the family of a boy who was sexually molested by a priest not to report it to the police unless they wanted to see their child “torn to pieces’’ in court, a royal commission has heard.
The second day of a public hearing into jailed paedophile priest John Joseph Farrell was told allegations against him were played down as just his way of “showing affection” for boys.
Karolyn Graham told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse she was distraught when her son Michael McGroder disclosed how the former Moree priest molested him in 1984.
She and her then husband confronted the vicar general in the Diocese of Armidale Monsignor Frank Ryan about the allegations involving their son as well as a number of other boys, the commission heard.
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