Xenophon to name priest accused of sex abuse
Nance HaxtonUpdated September 13, 2011 22:23:09
Independent Senator Nick Xenophon has named the Catholic priest at the centre of an alleged sex abuse scandal.
He told the Senate on Monday night that he would name the priest under parliamentary privilege unless the church stood him down while it investigated the allegations.
Senator Xenophon followed through with that threat on Tuesday night, saying parishioners had a right to know.
"Church leadership has failed to make appropriate inquiries into this matter," he told the Senate.
"Church leadership has failed to stand this priest down as a matter of course while inquiries take place."
The church sent Senator Xenophon a legal letter today imploring him not to name the man, but the Senator said he had no choice.
The alleged victim, Archbishop John Hepworth, is now the Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion.
He said he was repeatedly raped by three priests over a 12-year period while training in a Catholic seminary.
One of those priests is still alive and has a parish in Adelaide.
Archbishop Hepworth said he did not want Senator Xenophon to name the priest in Parliament.
"I have suggested to him that instead of naming the priest tonight, which brings things to some sort of climax but maybe not one that solves any problems, that he write to Archbishop Wilson suggesting to him that it's probably important enough to request the priest stand aside while that inquiry of the QC proceeds," he said.
"If indeed the Archbishop agrees to ask the priest to stand aside, then there is no need to name him.
"My allegations were a greater story than just this one priest. This treatment of this priest is only one part of that story.
"As long as the process goes on that is fair and just, I will be comfortable with that."
The Catholic Church responded to Senator Xenophon's threat to name the priest with a legal letter in which it said: "The priest concerned has categorically denied the allegations."
"Objectively speaking, it is not irrelevant that he has been a priest of good standing in the archdiocese for almost 50 years," the letter said.
"In those circumstances, any decision to suspend the priest concerned would be unjustifiable as a matter of canon and civil law."
But Archbishop Hepworth disagreed, saying the priest should be forced to step down.
"In the Catholic Church generally in Australia, bishops do stand priests aside or request they stand aside while allegations are investigated," he said.
"I can't see how there can be any sort of law that would in fact prevent that request being made."
Senator Xenophon said the only way the church could stop him naming the priest in Parliament was for it to remove the man from his post while the allegations are investigated.
He also called on the Federal Government to reconsider its appointment of Monsignor David Cappo as chairman of its new Mental Health Commission, claiming he failed to properly investigate the sexual abuse allegations.
The Adelaide archdiocese issued a statement, saying the priest has categorically denied the allegations and that the church has encouraged Archbishop Hepworth to report his allegations to the police but that he decided not to do so.
A spokeswoman for Mental Health Minister Mark Butler said the Government stands by its decision to appoint Monsignor Cappo as he was the obvious choice.
But Senator Xenophon said the Adelaide diocese has not conducted a proper investigation and should be held responsible.
"I will make it very clear that everyone has a presumption of innocence, but the issue here is that Archbishop Hepworth approached the Catholic Church in South Australia... over four years ago about this," he said.
"He made a written complaint over three years ago, after what I think was an unsatisfactory process to begin with.
"What was offered to Archbishop Hepworth was really not satisfactory. So the Catholic Church in South Australia has itself to blame if this course continues.
"This man can be stood down on administrative leave pending an investigation."
Archbishop Hepworth said he is still hopeful of a resolution.
"Only the church can heal what the church has broken, and if victims cannot approach the church they do not heal," he said.
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, catholic, federal-parliament, adelaide-5000
First posted September 13, 2011 19:02:13
I was really uncomfortable with this, but when I watched, and when I related it to prior experience in the public service, it may not be much to ask to 'stand down on full pay' until the matter is investigated.
I support full expectation of innocence until proven guilty, but the stand down is custom and practice - rightly or wrongly, for obvious reasons.
No comments:
Post a Comment