Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide Philip Wilson charged with failing to report child abuse by colleague in 1970s
CATHOLIC Archbishop of Adelaide Philip Wilson’s decision not to stand aside from his position while he fights a charge that he allegedly concealed child sex abuse in the 1970s has been criticised by victims’ groups.
ARCHBISHOP Philip Wilson faces up to two years’ jail if he is found guilty of concealing sexual abuse within the Catholic Church as alleged by NSW police.
The Archbishop of Adelaide on Tuesday became the highest-ranking Catholic Church official in the world to be charged with concealing sexual abuse within the church.
He strenuously denies the allegation of concealing a serious indictable offence.
The charge follows investigations by Strike Force Lantle — a team of NSW detectives set up to specifically investigate allegations of sexual abuse in the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle in the 1970s by paedophile priest Jim Fletcher.
Archbishop Wilson, 64, who at the time of the alleged offence in 1976 was a junior priest working in the diocese, will appear in Newcastle Court on April 30.
Archbishop Wilson on Tuesday night refused to elaborate on a statement his office released several hours after he was advised of the charge.
“I have made a statement and I am taking some leave and taking advice from other people. I have nothing more to say,” he said.
In his earlier statement he vowed to “vigorously defend my innocence’’ in court.
He has engaged prominent Sydney barrister Ian Temby, QC, and is taking extended leave, rather than standing aside.
His decision not to stand aside has prompted calls for the church to force him to do so until the charge against him is finalised, according to abuse victims and their families.
A spokesman for the Broken Rites victim support group, Dr Bernard Barrett, expressed surprise Archbishop Wilson was only taking leave after being formally charged by police.
“Many people will be surprised that Archbishop Wilson is not standing aside from his position while the criminal charge is pending,’’ he said.
“Usually, when a person in a position of trust is charged with a criminal offence, the public expects that he or she will stand down until the judicial process is completed.”
Peter Mitchell, the father of a disabled child abused by notorious paedophile Brian Perkins while he was employed at St Ann’s special school between 1987 and 1991, said he felt “the hierarchy of the church should immediately step in and ensure’’ Archbishop Wilson stood aside.
“I just don’t understand, any archbishop or priest should be forced to stand aside or be stood down while a charge such as this is finalised,’’ he said.
“It doesn’t matter if it is him or any other priest in the same situation, they should step aside until the truth is uncovered in court.’’
Archbishop Wilson declined interviews yesterday, but his statement said he was “disappointed to have been notified by the NSW Police that it has decided to file a charge in respect of this matter.
“The suggestion appears to be that I failed to bring to the attention of police a conversation I am alleged to have had in 1976, when I was a junior priest, that a now deceased priest had abused a child,’’ he states.
“From the time this was first brought to my attention last year, I have completely denied the allegation. I intend to vigorously defend my innocence through the judicial system”.
Archbishop Denis Hart, the Archbishop of Melbourne and President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference — of which Archbishop Wilson is the vice-president — said Archbishop Wilson “strongly maintains his innocence’’.
“The presumption of innocence applies to Archbishop Wilson as it does to all citizens subject to criminal charges before the court,’’ he said in a statement. “I urge people not to make any judgment until the charge against Archbishop Wilson has been dealt with by the court. I hope that this matter will be resolved without undue delay.’’
Archbishop Wilson is also expected to take leave from the ACBC and all other church committees.
Peter Gogarty, a victim of dead paedophile priest Jim Fletcher, who was at the centre of Strike Force Lantle investigations, said he felt relief that an investigation had resulted in charges against Archbishop Wilson.
“I think it’s a very, very important day for Australia, that we’ve now had someone in such a high position charged,” Mr Gogarty told ABC radio.
“I hasten to add, everyone in this country is entitled to the presumption of innocence, but ... the fact that our legal system has decided to charge someone this senior is enormously significant.”
The mother of another of Fletcher’s victims, Daniel Feenan, said it had been a “long and hard journey”.
“I’m just very proud of my son and I’m proud of all the victims who have had the courage to stand up,” Ms Pat Feenan said.
“The fight’s not over, the journey’s not over, I’ll keep working to support victims.”
At the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse sitting in Adelaide last year, Archbishop Wilson said the church had learned lessons from the manner in which abuse complaints were handled in previous eras.
The royal commission was examining the Adelaide Diocese’s response to the sexual abuse of students at St Ann’s special school by paedophile bus driver Brian Perkins.
“Please, God, it will never happen again, but I would hope that if it did that we would have learnt by experience now of how to handle these situations with the best possible outcome for the families and the victims,’’ he said.
It was “business as usual” at St Francis Xavier Cathedral last night as about 40 parishioners — some wearing green — made their way to the pews for the evening mass, which recognised St Patrick.
STATEMENT BY ARCHBISHOP PHILIP WILSON
Archbishop Wilson released a statement on Tuesday afternoon.
“I am disappointed to have been notified by the NSW Police that it has decided to file a charge in respect of this matter,” the statement says.
“The suggestion appears to be that I failed to bring to the attention of police a conversation I am alleged to have had in 1976, when I was a junior priest, that a now deceased priest had abused a child.
“From the time this was first brought to my attention last year, I have completely denied the allegation. I intend to vigorously defend my innocence through the judicial system and I have retained Senior Counsel, Mr Ian Temby AO, who will represent me in respect of it.
“I am unable to make any further comment at this stage, but I would like to take this opportunity to reaffirm my commitment to dealing proactively with the issue of child sexual abuse and the implementation of best-practice child protection measures which I have pioneered since becoming a bishop.
“My efforts in this regard have been widely acknowledged, including as a result of evidence I gave to hearings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in NSW and SA.
“I would again like to express my deep sorrow for the devastating impact of clerical sex abuse on victims and their families, and I give an assurance that despite this charge, I will continue to do what I can to protect the children in our care in the Archdiocese of Adelaide.
“I intend to take some leave to consult with a wide range of people in response to the information I have received today.”
Archbishop Wilson was chauffeured driven from the Church’s headquarters on Tuesday evening in a black Subaru Liberty after a day of crisis meetings.
Dressed in black he made a brief statement to the waiting media shortly before 6pm.
He said: “I have made a statement and I am taking some leave and taking advice from other people. I have nothing more to say.”
Asked by The Advertiser if he was looking forward to defending himself, he replied: “Of course.”
Sources suggested his legal fees would be paid for by the church although it remains unclear how much it would fund his defence.
“The church usually has money allocated for this type of stuff and he is entitled to defend himself,” one source said.
STATEMENT BY NSW POLICE
“A man has been charged after allegedly concealing a serious offence regarding child sexual abuse in the Hunter region.
“Strike Force Lantle was initiated in 2010 to investigate allegations of concealment of serious offences related to child abuse by clergy formerly and currently attached to the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese of the Catholic Church.
“Police will allege a 64-year-old man, of South Australia, concealed a serious offence.
“Today (Tuesday, March 17, 2015), a future court attendance notice was served for conceal serious offence. The man is due to appear in Newcastle Local Court on Thursday, April 30, 2015.”
COMMISSION OF INQUIRY INTO ‘CHILD ABUSE COVER-UP’
In 2012, the Special Commission of Inquiry was set up by the NSW Government to investigate the alleged cover-up of sexual abuse in the Maitland Diocese.
It was alleged that the church hierarchy relocated priests and turned a blind eye to abuse, and were assisted by senior police officers.
The inquiry heard from 161 witnesses, including 50 victims and their families. Three of the four volumes of findings were released in 2014 and uncovered no evidence to implicate senior police officers in a cover-up.
It was reported at the time that the fourth confidential volume could result in criminal charges being laid against a senior church official.
The inquiry found that some senior church officials did have information relating to child sexual abuse that would have assisted a police investigation.
It said the conduct of Bishop Leo Clarke — the long-term head of the diocese who died in 2006 — in turning a blind eye to a priest’s abuse was “inexcusable” and that he was motivated by a fear it would bring scandal on the church.
“A substantial body of evidence before the commission confirmed that senior Diocesan officials were aware at various times of reports or complaints that (Father Denis) McAlinden had sexually abused children, the first instance of reported abuse occurring in 1954,” it said.
“It took more than 40 years however for the Diocese to report to police any aspect of McAlinden’s offending history. The evidence reveals a disturbing story of repeated inaction and failure on the part of church officials to report McAlinden to police.”
ARCHBISHOP HAD VOWED TO CLEANSE CHURCH OF PREDATORS
Archbishop Wilson, who was born in Cessnock, NSW, in 1950, served in various church positions in NSW before he was appointed as Archbishop of Adelaide in December 2001.
Known as the Healing Bishop for work he did in Wollongong in the wake of a series of child sex abuse scandals, he has long been seen within the church as someone at the forefront of investigating allegations of sexual abuse against the clergy.
He was instrumental in developing Towards Healing, the church’s national policy manual on investigating allegations.
In 2002, he was appointed to oversee an independent inquiry into an allegation of abuse against his Sydney counterpart George Pell. The inquiry found the complaint had not been proven and Archbishop Pell is now a cardinal based in the Vatican.
In 2002, Archbishop Wilson met with the then-SA Police Commissioner, Mal Hyde, to request he reactivate a dormant investigation into a paedophile Catholic bus driver who had fled South Australia to Queensland.
Queensland police subsequently arrested and charged the driver, Brian Charles Perkins, with sexually abusing intellectually disabled children from St Ann’s Special School at Marion. Perkins was found guilty and later died in prison.
Following Perkins’ arrest Archbishop Wilson appointed the then-president of the Law Society of SA, Chris Kourakis, QC, to conduct an independent investigation into the Catholic Church’s handling of child sex abuse allegations within SA.
Archbishop Wilson said at the time he was committed to a Catholic Church policy to openly pursue the perpetrators of sexual abuse against children.
He vowed to rid the church in SA of any sexual predators.
“Whenever children are abused is something which hurts me deeply and we have to do all we can to cover all of the elements that are created through circumstances like these,’’ Archbishop Wilson said at the time.
Speaking about the Perkins case, Archbishop Wilson said he was “profoundly sorry that this happened’’.
“I make a very big commitment that such things will not happen again. They are totally unacceptable,” he said.
“We have to organise ourselves and really make every effort that we follow the best procedures that we can. I make a commitment today that we will continue to develop the welfare of our children and make sure that every child committed to our care is safe.’’
The Catholic Church has since become embroiled in a protracted legal dispute with parents of victims involved in the St Ann’s case over the payment of compensation. The dispute is still continuing.