‘Mishandling’ complaint against Archbishop Philip Wilson stand-in
AN ALLEGED victim of sexual assault claims that the acting Adelaide Archbishop, Greg O’Kelly, “mishandled” his complaint.
AN ALLEGED victim of sexual assault claims that the acting Adelaide Archbishop, Greg O’Kelly, “mishandled” his complaint.
The alleged victim told SBS News he was groomed and sexually abused by former St Ignatius College teacher and convicted paedophile Stephen John Hamra in the 1990s.
The allegations that Bishop O’Kelly mishandled the boy’s complaint have been strongly rejected by the Adelaide Archdiocese.
The alleged victim said that in 1995 he told Bishop O’Kelly — then the headmaster of St Ignatius College — that he had been sexually abused by Hamra three years earlier. SBS reported that the Jesuits — the religious order that runs St Ignatius — paid the alleged victim more than $100,000 in 2012, without admitting wrongdoing.
The allegations have never come before the courts.
The alleged victim told SBS he was shocked Bishop O’Kelly had been appointed as acting Archbishop when Archbishop Philip Wilson temporarily stood down after he was found guilty of concealing child sexual abuse.
“With my experience of Greg O’Kelly, it is absolutely astounding that they would put a man like that in that role,” the alleged victim told SBS.
In a statement to the Sunday Mail last night, the Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide rejected the suggestion Bishop O’Kelly had mishandled the complaint. “He responded to the matter immediately and appropriately. The matter was reported to both the Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) and the police, who investigated the matter,” the statement said.
“An open and transparent meeting was held with the former student and his parents and a copy of the meeting notes were sent to the family.”
Hamra is a convicted paedophile, having been found guilty of abusing one boy between 1977 and 1986, and maintaining a relationship with the boy’s brother.
Hamra was a teacher at Christian Brothers’ College at the time of the offences.
His response to the victim’s complaint, the subject of the SBS report, has not been reported.
Premier Steven Marshall said the allegations needed to be “taken very seriously” but that it was a matter for the courts.
“These allegations will need to be dealt with in an appropriate way,” he said.
The allegations come shortly after the National Council of Priests of Australia demanded Wilson be sacked as Archbishop.
The council is appealing to Pope Francis to step in and fire Wilson, 67. “For the good of the church in Australia and for the benefit of the people of God in the Archdiocese of Adelaide, the executive of the (council) requests that the Holy Father, Pope Francis, removes Archbishop Philip Wilson from his See,” the council said in a statement on Friday.
It followed Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull lobbying Pope Francis for Wilson to be removed from the role.
Mr Marshall has also called for Wilson to resign.
Adding to the pressure on the Pontiff to act on Archbishop Wilson is the fact he recently removed prominent US Cardinal Theodore McCarrick from public ministry over allegations of abusing an altar boy in New York more than 40 years ago. The Church found the allegations to be “credible” but McCarrick — dubbed “Uncle Ted’’ — denies them.