St Patrick’s College strikes Archbishop Frank Little from records

FORMER Melbourne Archbishop Frank Little will be struck from records of his former college in the fallout of the child abuse royal commission’s report into the Melbourne Archdiocese.

St Patrick’s College will remove Archbishop Little’s name from a building named in his honour.

FORMER Melbourne Archbishop Frank Little will be struck from the records of his former college in the fallout of the child abuse royal commission’s report into the Melbourne Archdiocese.

The commission was scathing of Archbishop Little for his handling of abuse complaints saying he developed a damaging “culture of secrecy” that enabled further abuse.

Today St Patrick’s College, Ballarat, said it would remove Archbishop Little’s name from a building which had been named in his honour and revoke his status as an inducted Legend of the College.

ABUSE OF CHILDREN ‘CATASTROPHIC’ FAILURE OF CATHOLIC CHURCH

Headmaster John Crowley said the College aimed to role model the highest possible standards of behaviour to students entrusted to its care.

“The findings demonstrate that Archbishop Little’s behaviours do not meet these expectations,” Mr Crowley said.

“As such we are now acting in accordance with our joint statement issued in conjunction with Edmund Rice Education Australia (EREA) in December 2016.

The commission was scathing of Archbishop Little for his handling of abuse complaints.

“This statement specifically identifies unacceptable behaviours which do not align with our expectations around child protection.

“The College hopes to role model, at every opportunity, responses that embody our child protection expectations and obligations in support of our mission of raising fine boys to the status of great men.”

The school says while Archbishop Little’s name will be removed from a building, it will stay on honour boards with a line through it.

The college said following the findings into its Ballarat case study, issued today, it expects to make further statements in the near future.

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.

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”.

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