Abuse victims blast
Adelaide archbishop
He’s being investigated for concealing child sex
crimes
At first, he pledged
to help police but he’s reversed himself
Group wants Catholic
prelate to hold open meetings to discuss the case
It also wants him to
post names of all predator priests on church
websites
WHAT
Holding signs and
childhood photos at a footpath news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will blast the top
Catholic official for refusing to cooperate with a police investigation. They
will also prod him to
--hold a series of
open public meetings across the archdiocese and explain his reversal and his
involvement in a predator priest’s crimes, and
-- post the names,
photos and whereabouts of all predator priests on his archdiocesan and parish
websites, so that parents can better protect their kids and so that victims can
better heal.
WHEN
Monday, 3
December at 12:30 pm
WHERE
Outside the
St Francis Xavier Cathedral, 39 Wakefield Street in Adelaide
WHO
One or two
members of an international support group for clergy sex abuse victims called
SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, including a US woman who
is the organisation’s founder
WHY
One of Australia’s
most influential Catholic prelates is refusing to cooperate with a police
investigation. He is Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson who is accused of
concealing child sexual crimes by at least two priests, including serial child
offender Father Denis McAlinden and failing to report them to police.
(McAlinden, originally from Ireland, died in 2005 and may have molested hundreds
of kids.)
In May 2010, Wilson’s
spokesman told The Advertiser that Wilson would welcome the "opportunity" to be
involved in any police investigation. (Australia’s top Catholic official,
Cardinal George Pell, has similarly pledged that bishops would cooperate with
law enforcement in clergy child sex cases.)
But in recent months,
two newspapers have reported that Wilson now refuses to be
questioned.
Wilson is the most
recent past President of Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (a post
currently held by Archbishop Denis Hart of Melbourne).
Two other church
staffers the general secretary of the Australian Bishops Conference, Father
Brian Lucas and retired bishop of Maitland-Newcastle, Michael Malone - are part
of the same investigation. They HAVE been interviewed by police.
SNAP contends that if
Wilson refuses to talk with police, he at least owes some answers to his flock.
And if he did nothing wrong, SNAP says, Wilson shouldn’t be afraid of talking
with anyone about the allegations against him. The organisation wants the
archbishop to hold several open, public meetings across the archdiocese and take
questions from parishioners and the public about the
controversy.
SNAP also wants Wilson
to post on archdiocesan and parish websites the identities, pictures, and last
known whereabouts of all proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting
clerics. Some 30 US bishops have taken this “bare minimum public safety step,”
SNAP says.
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AtAGlance/lists.htm
CONTACT
Barbara
Blaine, SNAP President and Founder (0449 018 594 or +1 312 399 4747, bblaine@snapnetwork.org)
Nicky Davis,
SNAP Australia Leader ( 0422 538 440, nicky@nickydavis.com.au)