Melbourne’s Catholic Archdiocese let paedophile priests free to abuse children: report

CULTURE of secrecy inside Melbourne’s Catholic Archdiocese let paedophile priests free to abuse of scores of children, a damning report by the child abuse royal commission has found.

CULTURE of secrecy inside Melbourne’s Catholic Archdiocese let paedophile priests free to abuse scores of children, a damning report by the child abuse royal commission has found.

Releasing its report into the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne today the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was most scathing of former Archbishop Frank Little.

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But it was silent on his successor Cardinal George Pell, redacting almost an entire section dedicated to him citing the risk of prejudice to “current or future criminal or civil proceedings”.

Church insiders have long blamed the popular Archbishop Little, who headed the diocese from 1974 to 1996, for a wide scale cover-up claiming he failed to act on scores of abuse complaints.

They say when Cardinal Pell took over he was confronted with an “office full of files” full of complaints that had been kept secret.

Archbishop Frank Little.

In its report the commission found Archbishop Little’s “culture of secrecy ... sought to protect the Archdiocese from scandal and liability and prioritised the interests of the Church over those of the victims.”

The commission found Archbishop Little lied about the resignation of paedophile priests, concealed ongoing financial assistance to others, and shuffled others between parishes.

It found there was a “practice of using oblique or euphemistic language in correspondence and records concerning complaints of child sexual abuse” with terms like “Special Issues” being used to refer primarily to complaints of child sexual abuse.

Commissioners also found that minutes of the meetings of the Curia, a body of senior clergy who advised the Archbishop, were generally euphemistic, incomplete and inaccurate.

None of the minutes referred directly to child sexual abuse or other similar terms.

“The purpose of not recording information was to protect the assets of the Archdiocese in the event of a claim being made against it,” the commission found.

The report found dysfunctional systems, procedures and practices within the Archdiocese inevitably led to poor outcomes in responding to allegations of child sexual abuse.

It included the structure of Catholic education in Victoria whereby the parish priest is the employer of staff at parish schools.

The report redacted a section on Cardinal George Pell, citing a risk of prejudice to “current or future criminal or civil proceedings”. Picture: Mark Stewart

That system remains in place today.

The commission found during Archbishop Little’s tenure decision-making within the Archdiocese in response to complaints of child sexual abuse against priests was highly centralised.

“There were no effective checks and balances on the Archbishop’s exercise of powers in relation to priests who were the subject of complaints,” it said.

“A system for responding to complaints of child sexual abuse in which the exclusive authority for making decisions was vested in one person, is deeply flawed”.

The commission was told and accepted that Archbishop Little was too slow to act on complaints and had difficulty accepting that a priest was an offender.

He held the priesthood in very high esteem, and this resulted in difficulties in dealing with complaints against priests.

The case study examined events that took place between 1954 and 2012 but the majority of the evidence concerned the church’s response during Archbishop Little’s reign.

During his appearance before the commission Cardinal Pell said he was kept in the dark by church officials.

He said that while he was Melbourne’s auxiliary bishop, Catholic Education Office staff had failed to tell him about abuse being perpetrated by Holy Parish, Doveton, priest Peter Searson.

Cardinal Pell was routinely challenged by commission chair Justice Peter McClellan, but the commission’s findings on his evidence will remain secret for some time.

The commission found Searson’s case “remarkable in terms of the volume of complaints against him and the number of church personnel to whom they were made.”

Complaints had first reached Archbishop Little in 1986.

“In doing nothing, he failed to protect the children of the parish and the Holy Family School,” the commission said.