Clergy Child Molesters (150) — References/Archive/Blog

Archbishop saw Horgan sex report 8 years ago

   The West Australian, www.thewest. com.au , By GARY ADSHEAD and SEAN COWAN, EXCLUSIVE, pp 1 and 3, Saturday, July 5, 2008
   PERTH (WA), Australia – Catholic Archbishop Barry Hickey, who has denied receiving any sexual misconduct complaints about the leaders of the Church-backed Bethel Covenant Community until last year, was handed written details of sexual harassment as early as 2000.
   The West Australian has obtained a copy of a report signed by former members of the religious movement in August 2000, which outlined allegations of how the community's leader, Kevin Horgan, asked female members their favourite sexual positions and urged one to remove her underwear.
   The 13-page report, together with a request for a full-blown investigation, was handed directly to Archbishop Hickey during a meeting with a delegation of long-term Bethel members, who had decided to leave the community in disgust. Two of the report's authors were former priests, while others included a teacher and a psychiatrist. The West Australian has interviewed three of the authors.
   "Some (members) have witnessed some of the Bethel men … touching or pinching women's buttocks, or publicly discussing sexual freedoms a woman ought to be enjoying, or even employing, with her husband," the 2000 report said.
   "Mr Horgan said to a woman: 'How do you have an orgasm?' On another occasion he said to a married woman: 'I know what position you take, you use doggy position. Your husband told me'. "
   But in response to a series of questions from The West Australian on May 23 this year, asking what and when the Catholic Archdiocese of Perth knew about the Bethel scandal, the Archbishop denied having any knowledge of sexual misconduct allegations until last year.
   "No complaints about sexual misconduct were received until 2007 when concerns about the conduct of the leader were brought to Bishop (Donald) Sproxton by a third party," the Church statement read.
   The statement, which surprised those who met Archbishop Hickey in 2000, said that it had not been until February this year that a first-hand account of sexual misconduct against the Bethel leader was made.
   Yesterday, a spokesman for the Archbishop acknowledged that the meeting took place and that a report was handed to the Archbishop.
Continued on page 3 Archbishop saw report into sexual misconduct in Bethel back in 2000 From page 1
   He rejected any suggestion the Church's previous answers were now contradicted by the discovery of the 2000 report and would not respond further.
   Archbishop Hickey said in May that he had been aware for a number of years of concerns about Mr Horgan's "management style" and in "every case they were taken up by the Archbishop or the liaison chaplain with the Bethel leadership in order to effect some change".
   It was only in March this year that the Church called on Mr Horgan to stand down from the Bethel community after complaints to Auxiliary Bishop of Perth Don Sproxton about serial sexual misconduct by the well-connected Catholic leader.
   Many of the allegations were similar to the complaints brought to Archbishop Hickey seven years earlier.
   Bethel members claimed Mr Horgan had pulled a woman's blouse forward and commented on her breasts; had encouraged female members to have breast enhancement surgery; had touched women's breasts at barbecues; had groped a young single woman from behind; and had asked female members to remove their tops and massage themselves and him during a Bethel retreat.
  [Pictures]
Church knew of sex claims
Monday, May 26

Christian chief Horgan quits amid breast-groping claims
Sex assault police called in as women list complaints.
How leader 'sent them down the road to hell'
Saturday, May 10  

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  ‘Some (members) have witnessed some of the Bethel men … touching or pinching women's buttocks …  
  THE 2000 REPORT AUTHOR 
   In the 2000 report, Archbishop Hickey was told of the "cultic" characteristics Bethel had adopted, the intimate nature and level of control community leaders wielded over members' lives and of the sordid sexual behaviour of the leader.
   The examples were provided under the heading "Sexual Issues".
   "Mr Horgan suggested to a married woman, whilst at a restaurant, that she emulate the example of another married woman in the community who had taken her undies off and placed them in her husband's pocket," the 2000 document said.
   "Our experiences, as indicated above, have led us to have some grave concerns.
   "These concerns centre around the seeming endorsement of the Bethel community by the Catholic Church, and we are particularly concerned given the experiences we have had of the influence of Bethel community over ourselves as members."
   The report also raised concerns about the West Leederville-based Bethel community's financial structure and the lack of transparency the community had with what Bethel leaders labelled "the outside".
   The document concluded by calling on Archbishop Hickey to order an inquiry and to consider reviewing the Church's endorsement of Bethel.
   The authors said the Church should also consider offering any affected members counselling, something that has only occurred this year.
   Current Bethel community chairman Rob Crothers said he had not seen the 2000 report. But he said he would be surprised if the issues had not been followed up by the Archbishop if they had been raised. #

Church accused of dodging concerns over Bethel sleaze

   The West Australian, www.thewest. com.au , By GARY ADSHEAD and SEAN COWAN, p 3, Saturday, July 5, 2008
   PERTH – The people who found the courage in 2000 to document and present their fears over the cult-like transformation of the Bethel Covenant Community were grateful for the opportunity to meet the man they addressed as "Your Grace".
   After much hand-wringing and some sleepless nights, the group had decided it was the right thing to do. The 300-strong lay Catholic organisation was under the spell of a man obsessed with controlling every aspect of the members' lives, from the bedroom to the boardroom.
   If Archbishop Barry Hickey did not confront Bethel's leader Kevin Horgan and bring about change, then all hope was lost.
   In a covering letter the group of professionals, including two former priests, pointed out that while the community had contributed much goodness to their lives, it was time to speak out. In an attached document for the Archbishop was a damning indictment of an organisation operating under the umbrella of the Catholic Church.
   "For example, some of us as pastoral leaders were encouraged to ask details of people's lives, such as asking single men about their masturbation habits and, those of us who are married, experienced inquiries about details of our sexual relationship," the former members wrote.
   "Not only could the pastoral system in the Bethel community be used to exert undue influence, but some of us experienced that the influence of those outside the community was discouraged."
   The document told the heart-breaking story of an "outside" woman who became pregnant to a Bethel member and was quickly isolated by the covenant's most powerful man.
  [Picture] Kevin Horgan  
   "She recalls Mr Horgan indicating that if her partner wanted to marry her he would have to leave as she indicated she was not prepared to join and put herself under Mr Horgan's authority," it read.  "The end result of the 'counselling' was that she was left on her own during the pregnancy and birth with little support or contact from the father of the child."
   Throughout the 13-page document, the authors' primary concerns lay with the grip Bethel leaders had on the everyday lives of members.  But the sleaze permeating the organisation was also addressed.
   The view was that Mr Horgan had repeatedly crossed sexual boundaries by using his influence over female members to investigate their sexual relationships with men.
  [Picture] Answers: Archbishop Barry Hickey says he is preparing a response to a 'damning indictment' by former Bethel members.  
   According to the document's authors, who were contacted by The West Australian, the Archbishop never came back to them with a response.
  ‘Even though I am Catholic I am sometimes ashamed to admit it with what the hierarchy does. ’  
   They were stunned by his recent denials about what he knew of the disturbing events inside Bethel.
   "Very surprised," one of the authors said.  "Very surprised and really disappointed with the leaders of our own Church.  Even though I am Catholic, I am sometimes ashamed to admit it with what the Catholic hierarchy does."
   The West Australian revealed the Bethel crisis in May after obtaining a copy of a 2007 report into a range of sexually charged allegations and statutory declarations from some of the women who said they were sexually abused.
   Mr Horgan resigned in disgrace and did not return calls from the newspaper.  Last week, another senior community leader resigned.
   Auxiliary Bishop of Perth Don Sproxton will address the remaining 100-plus members of the community at the end of this month despite anger about the Church's attempt to distance itself from the scandal in its May statement.
   Concerned Christians Growth Ministries director Adrian van Leen was incredulous about the Church's handling of the Bethel crisis.
   "Our deep disappointment is that, though I as director of CCGM, along with others, passed on some of these concerns to the Catholic Church leadership in the mid-1990s, nothing was done about them," he said.
   He said the people behind the 2000 report and others who had come forward since believed that the Catholic hierarchy had deliberately side-stepped responsibility.
   Last night, a spokesman for Archbishop Hickey said he was preparing a full response but did not concede that revelations in the 2000 report contradicted his answers to questions from The West Australian in May. #

Calls for Catholic Church to monitor lay organisations

   Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), www.abc.net. au/news/ stories/ 2008/07/06/ 2295702. htm , Posted 12:03pm AEST, Sun Jul 6, 2008
   PERTH – A group which monitors religious organisations says the Catholic Church should monitor its lay organisations to avoid the problems which arose at the Bethel Covenant community in Leederville.
   Community leader Kevin Horgan was asked by the church to step down this year over allegations of ongoing sexual misconduct.
   But the director of the Concerned Christians Growth Ministries, Adrian Van Leen, says questions about Mr Horgan were first raised in the mid 90s.
   He says the church has a duty of care and should educate people in lay organisations about good leadership so they cannot be manipulated and controlled.
   Mr Van Leen says there needs to be more monitoring and greater accountability.
   Tags on ABC webpage: community-and-society, religion-and-beliefs, catholic, law-crime-and-justice, sexual-offences, wa, leederville-6007 #

I took Bethel complaint to Hickey in '94: woman

   The West Australian, www.thewest. com.au , By SEAN COWAN, p 9, Monday, July 7, 2008
   PERTH – A former Bethel Covenant Community member has claimed she made sexual misconduct complaints about community leader Kevin Horgan to Catholic Archbishop Barry Hickey in 1994 as evidence of the Church's knowledge of Bethel's sex scandal mounted yesterday.
   In response to questions from The West Australian on May 23 this year, asking what and when the Catholic Archdiocese of Perth knew about the Bethel scandal., the Archbishop denied having any knowledge of sexual misconduct allegations until last year. "No complaints about sexual misconduct were received until 2007, when concerns about the conduct of the leader were brought to Bishop (Donald) Sproxton by a third party," the Church statement read.
   But, on Saturday, The West Australian revealed that a 13-page report detailing sexual allegations, together with a request for a full-blown investigation, was handed directly to Archbishop Hickey during a meeting with a delegation of former long-term Bethel members in 2000. The report's authors included two former priests, a teacher and a psychiatrist.
   Yesterday, the former head of religious education at Chisholm Catholic College said she took her complaints about Mr Horgan directly to Archbishop Hickey in 1994.
   "It was around the middle of 1994 just after I had left Bethel, which I had joined in 1984 when I was 18 years old, that I went to the Archbishop," she said. "I told him about two incidents.
   "Kevin was always obsessing about women's boobs and … he said something about my boobs and I just started lifting my top up in exasperation. Just calling his bluff, basically.
   "But the grossest thing was one day I was at his house for a family lunch and … he came up while I was sitting and, under the pretence of massaging my shoulders, he pushed his genitals into the small of my back. It was so gross.
   "That was a real 'aha' moment because if I said, 'Get off me' he would say, 'You are so uptight, you are not free in the Lord and you aren't relaxed about people's bodies'.
   "I just squirmed, which was enough for him to know that I wasn't going to fall for it. He would act inappropriately and then tell people they were uptight and he was trying to free them.
   "So I went to his (Archbishop Hickey's) offices and he just said, 'Oh, that's terrible', but he told me, 'Just forget the past'. I never heard from him again about these incidents."
   Archbishop Hickey could not be contact[ed] for comment yesterday. On Friday, his spokesman acknowledged that the 2000 meeting took place and that a report was handed to the Archbishop. He rejected any suggestion the Church's previous answers were now contradicted by the discovery of the 2000 report and would not respond further.
   Former Bethel members have expressed surprise at Archbishop Hickey's comments, in which he claimed no knowledge of sexual misconduct allegations until last year.
   In his reply to a scathing letter from one former Bethel member, the Archbishop apologised if he had been slow to act on Bethel. "The matters are tangled and complex and not open to easy solutions," he said. "I can only now hope and pray that Bethel can regroup and prosper under the very different structure that has been worked but."
   Mr Horgan resigned in April after two women came forward at the Bethel community's regular Sunday gathering to complain about his actions. In the following days, another six members and eight former members also complained. #

Pell signs contradictory letters the same day

   Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Monday, July 7, 2008
   AUSTRALIA – Tony Jones of Lateline told the story of a man whom a priest had ejaculated against his body, but whom Archbishop Pell had written to refusing his request for justice.
   Pell had told him in a 2003 letter that no other complaints against the priest had been received.
   But copies of another letter dated the same day showed Pell admitting to another person that the same priest had sexually molested him.

Pell denies sex abuse cover-up

   Sydney Morning Herald, http://www. smh.com.au/ news/ national/ pell-denies- sex-abuse- coverup/ 2008/07/08/ 121528279 6740.html , by Joel Gibson, 12:00PM - July 8, 2008
   SYDNEY – The most senior man in the Australian Catholic Church today denied he covered up the sexual abuse of a man in a 2003 letter.
   The Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, also refused to resign, stand aside or order an investigation into the matter.
   Cardinal Pell dismissed Anthony Jones' allegations of rape by Father Terrence Goodall despite the findings of a church investigator that they were substantiated.
   "There was no cover up," he said. "The accusations against Father Goodall were investigated by the church and the police and Father Goodall was stood down.
   "Church authorities fully co-operated at every stage."
   "The letter to Mr Jones was badly worded and a mistake. I was attempting to inform him that there was no other allegation of rape and I overstated my agreement with Murray, who found all allegations sustained".
   Mr Jones insists Cardinal Pell's second letter was also "dishonest" and about the priest's history of sexual abuse.
   Cardinal Pell wrote to Mr Jones on February 14, 2003, claiming his complaint of sexual assault could not be substantiated because an investigator had found that no other victims had come forward and that Father Goodall had denied the allegations.
   However, documents obtained by the ABC show Cardinal Pell wrote to a second victim - who was nine when Father Goodall abused him - to say he was satisfied with the truth of that man's complaint.
   Three weeks earlier, Cardinal Pell had received a report from an independent investigation by Howard Murray into Father Goodall, which advised him both men's complaints should be upheld.
   In a statement this morning, Cardinal Pell said there had been no attempt at a cover-up.
   "The letter to Mr Jones was badly worded and a mistake - an attempt to inform him there was no other allegation of rape …
   "In a subsequent letter soon after the February 2003 letter I expressed my sorrow at what Mr Jones had suffered and offered to meet him."
   Mr Jones confirmed he received a second letter in which Cardinal Pell acknowledged the "personal difficulties" in Mr Jones's life as a result of being sexual assaulted, which he said were "a matter of great sadness".
   However, Cardinal Pell had again written in the letter that it could not be determined whether Father Goodall's actions were sexual assault, or "homosexual behaviour between two consenting adults", Mr Jones said.
   This was despite Mr Murray's report, delivered to Cardinal Pell prior to this second letter, which said Mr Jones "be informed in writing that their allegations have been sustained", Mr Jones said.
   While Cardinal Pell offered in the letter to meet with Mr Jones, Mr Jones said he ignored the offer because it was made on the condition the meeting not "be a forum for debating the facts".
   "He said he doesn't want a forum … to discuss the actual matter - what kind of healing would there be when an Archbishop tells you that?"
   Mr Jones agreed with Cardinal Pell's description of the initial letter as "badly worded", but said he had still been dishonest in claiming there had been no other complaints of attempted sexual assault against Father Goodall.
   "It was poorly written, but it was just a dishonest letter. It's got lies in there, I'm sorry."
   He called again for Cardinal Pell to resign ahead of the Pope's visit to Sydney.
   "What's the point {of an apology from the Pope to victims of sexual assault, expected during his visit to Sydney for World Youth Day} when victims are still being lied to?" #

‘Abused Catholic misled by Cardinal George Pell’

   The Age (Daily, Melbourne, Vic., Australia), http://www. theaustralian. news.com. au/story/ 0,25197, 23986175- 601,00.html , by Angus Hohenboken | July 08, 2008
   SYDNEY – THE head of the Catholic Church in Australia, George Pell, has been accused of misleading a man abused by a Sydney priest.
   The accusation comes less than a week before Cardinal Pell is due to welcome the Pope to Australia for World Youth Day celebrations.
   It was alleged last night that Cardinal Pell, the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, told Anthony Jones in 2003 that a complaint of sexual abuse against Father Terrence Goodall would not be upheld because the priest had not had other complaints made against him.
   But the ABC Lateline program last night claimed Cardinal Pell had responded to another man's complaint against the priest on the same day he wrote to Mr Jones, saying the second man's complaint would be upheld.
   Cardinal Pell said early today there had been no attempt at a cover-up.
   "Father Terence Goodall's offences occurred more than 25 years ago. When they were reported on 6 June 2002, I commenced an investigation under the Towards Healing protocol," he said.
   "The letter to Mr Jones was badly worded and a mistake - an attempt to inform him there was no other allegation of rape.
   "However I signed both letters of February 2003 mentioned in the ABC's Lateline program, and any fault in the drafting was mine.
   "In a subsequent letter soon after the February 2003 letter, I expressed my sorrow at what Mr Jones had suffered and offered to meet him. There was no attempt to mislead him. I apologise for the confusion caused to Mr Jones."
   Mr Jones claimed Father Goodall fondled his genitals when they were swimming in a Cronulla pool in 1982.
   The religious education co-ordinator, then 28, was allegedly indecently assaulted again by the priest when they returned to a presbytery.
   Father Goodall was convicted of two counts of indecent assault against Mr Jones after admitting to the acts in January 2005.
   It was reported that Mr Jones's initial complaint to the church, the day after the incident, was not followed up. But 20 years later, after he again complained, the church did investigate.
   Cardinal Pell replied to Mr Jones on February 14, 2003, in a letter, saying an investigator, Howard Murray, had recommended the allegations of abuse "be found to be substantiated. However, as no other complaint of attempted sexual assault has been received against Father Goodall and he categorically denies the accusation, Mr Murray was of the opinion that the complaint of attempted aggravated sexual assault cannot be considered to have been substantiated."
   Mr Jones took his allegations to the criminal and civil courts. Documents submitted as part of those hearings suggested that on the same day he sent the letter to Mr Jones, Cardinal Pell sent another letter to a former altar boy who had made similar claims against Father Goodall. #

InsideCover

Bethel man’s encounter with Pope

   The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , p 2, "Inside Cover," Tuesday, July 8, 2008
   PERTH and VATICAN CITY – More evidence today of why the Catholic Church may be wishing Kevin Horgan was never part of the flock, let alone a leader of one of its lay organisations.
   As this photograph from 1990 proves, Horgan was a founding leader of an umbrella body called the Catholic Fraternity of Charismatic Covenant Communities and Fellowships.
   Pope John Paul II carried out two inauguration events – one of them in his private chapel inside the Vatican – to officially recognise the CFCCCF.
   Horgan, who is now at the centre of a religious sex scandal which has enmeshed Perth's Archbishop Barry Hickey, is never too far from the Holy Father in all the photographs of the event at the Vatican.
   According to the Catholic organisation's website, Horgan was the first treasurer of the CFCCCF.
   He used to attend the worldwide conferences representing the Bethel Covenant Community he ruled over in West Leederville for 20-plus years.
  [Picture] Friends in high places: Kevin Horgan, former leader of the Bethel Covenant Community, in the Sistine Chapel with Pope John Paul II.  
   Inside Cover understands that the community's disgraced leader has now returned from an overseas break – but we're not sure if he has any plans to comment on the continuing events concerning his old Catholic fiefdom, where he allegedly loved nothing more than talking dirty to or touching up the female members. #

Abuse victim accuses Pell of misleading him

   The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , p 6, Tuesday, July 8, 2008
   CANBERRA – Senior Catholic cleric George Pell allegedly misled a victim of sexual assault and sought to dismiss his complaint, according to documents revealed last night.
   According to the ABC's Lateline program, Cardinal Pell, the head of the Catholic Church in Australia, gave misleading information to an abuse victim in 2003.
   The victim, Anthony Jones, claimed to have been abused by Catholic priest Terrence Goodall 20 years earlier.  In a letter obtained by the ABC, Cardinal Pell told Mr Jones the allegation had not been substantiated because the church had not received any other complaints against Father Goodall.
   But another letter from Cardinal Pell, signed the same day and obtained by the ABC, was sent to a second man who also claimed to have been abused by Father Goodall.  In the second letter, Cardinal Pell told the man his complaint had been substantiated.
   Father Goodall was later convicted of indecent assault, according to the ABC.  Cardinal Pell declined to appear on Lateline or make a comment. #

Archbishop stays silent on when he knew of sexual misconduct

   The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , by SEAN COWAN and GARY ADSHEAD, p 7, Tuesday, July 8, 2008
   PERTH – Catholic Archbishop Barry Hickey has refused to say when he knew about sexual misconduct allegations inside the Bethel Covenant Community, three days after it was revealed he was handed a report detailing some of those claims in 2000.
   His silence has angered former members who said they took evidence of sexual harassment by Bethel's leader Kevin Horgan to the Perth head of the Catholic Church as early as 1994.
   After telling The West Australian on Friday that the Archbishop was preparing a full response, Perth Archdiocese spokesman Hugh Ryan said yesterday there would be no comment about either the 2000 report or the account of a former member who claims she told the Archbishop that Mr Horgan had rubbed himself against her at a family lunch in 1994.
   When asked if there would ever be a response to the serious questions raised about the Archbishop's handling of the Bethel scandal, Mr Ryan said he did not know. "Tomorrow's too far away," he said.
   The West Australian can also reveal that in 1994, two leaders from the Catholic Fraternity of Charismatic Covenant Communities and Fellowships visited Archbishop Hickey to raise concerns about Mr Horgan.
   In a letter to Mr Horgan, sent soon after he spoke to the Archbishop, Catholic Fraternity president Brian Smith assured Mr Horgan he did not have a vendetta against him and would not raise his complaints with the Vatican. But he said the matter would remain with Archbishop Hickey for "any further action".
   Mr Smith said he had great respect for the community and had been careful not to do anything that may harm it. He said the difficulties he was trying to deal with were "community practices" which had caused concern.
   "My concern is for peace and unity but not a peace and unity which ignores the difficulties or pretends they don't exist," he said.
   Mr Smith died a few years ago and did not detail the "community practices" which he said in his letter "could give scandal".
   When questioned by The West Australian last month, the Archbishop denied having any knowledge of sexual misconduct allegations until last year.
   On Saturday, The West Australian revealed that a 13-page report detailing sexual allegations, together with a request for an investigation, was handed directly to Archbishop Hickey during a meeting with former long-term Bethel members in 2000. #

Sex assault case closed, says Pell

   Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), www.abc.net. au/news/ stories/ 2008/07/08/ 2297699.htm , Posted 8 hours 0 minutes ago, Updated 1 hour 44 minutes ago, Tuesday, July 8, 2008
   AUSTRALIA – The Catholic Church's most senior figure in Australia, Cardinal George Pell, has conceded a letter he wrote to a man who had been sexually assaulted by a priest was a mistake but has defended his overall handling of the case.
   ABC TV's Lateline program last night revealed Sydney's Catholic Archbishop had written to Anthony Jones, saying his claims of sexual assault by Father Terrence Goodall could not be substantiated and there had been no other allegations of abuse by the priest.
   But an internal church investigation had found Mr Jones's complaint to be proven and recommended action be taken.
  [Picture] 'Poorly put': Cardinal Pell says he worded the letter badly.    (Reuters: Mark Baker, file photo).  
   The church's internal investigator, Howard Murray, also upheld a complaint by an altar boy that Father Goodall had abused him.
   Cardinal Pell signed a letter accepting the former altar boy's complaint on the same day he wrote to Mr Jones, who was 28 when he was sexually assaulted in 1982.
   He has today admitted that the letter to Mr Jones was badly worded. He says he made the mistake because he understood aggravated sexual assault to be synonymous with rape.
   The letter said: "No other complaint of attempted sexual assault has been received against Father Goodall and he categorically denies the accusation."
   "Mr Murray was of the opinion that the complaint of attempted aggravated sexual assault cannot be considered to have been substantiated," the Archbishop wrote.
   Cardinal Pell says he did not agree with the investigator that Mr Jones's allegation of rape had been substantiated.
   "I accepted Howard Murray's two basic recommendations presented in January, 2003," he said today.
   "The first one that Father Goodall be assessed for suitability to continue acting as a priest. This was done and then he was stood down from priestly activity.
   "Secondly, that the allegations of both complainants had been sustained and that they be offered remedial assistance.
   "However, I differed from Murray because I did not believe that there was sufficient evidence of rape where that was alleged…
   "[Mr Jones] was asking for $3.5 million in damages and I felt that that was a bit excessive, but if we could do something to ease his pain, his complaints were investigated thoroughly, substantially found to be true with that one exception and the priest was stood down."
   In an interview to be aired on ABC Radio's AM program tomorrow, Cardinal Pell has been pressed on how he could dismiss the complaints on the grounds there were no other allegations of assault when he had confirmed he knew of another matter on the same day.
   "That was poorly put. I was attempting to inform him that there was no other allegation of rape," he said. "The incidents were run together. That was done badly."
   Months after he made the mistake, the Archbishop says he sent a second letter to Mr Jones. He says he did not know he had made a mistake at that time.
Complex trial
   In a controversial and complex legal case, Father Goodall was later convicted of the indecent assault of Mr Jones under laws from the time of the incident, when homosexual sex was still illegal.
   Cardinal Pell says he now considers the issue closed.
   "The judge remarked publicly that his conviction would be unlikely under today's law," he said.
   He says Mr Jones's civil claims were settled with the Catholic Church two weeks ago and no compensation will be paid.
   The AM program has asked Cardinal Pell whether he was aware of any similar mistakes in other cases.
   "There were mistakes made in the letter but otherwise the procedures were good," he said.
   "If there are allegations of mismanagement and inactivity, we simply invite the victims or the complainants to go to the police or to the church."
   Tags: community-and-society, religion-and-beliefs, catholic, law-crime-and-justice, courts-and-trials, sexual-offences, australia, nsw, sydney-2000 #

Pell ‘gave weight’ to priest’s version

   Perth Now powered by The Sunday Times (Perth, W. Australia), www.news.com. au/perthnow/ story/0,21 598,23992 082-5005361,00.html , AAP , 09:41pm, July 08, 2008
   SYDNEY – CARDINAL George Pell dismissed a sex abuse complaint against a priest because he gave weight to his claim the encounter was consensual, fresh documents show.
   Cardinal Pell, the head of the Catholic Church in Australia, has become embroiled in the sex abuse claim just days before Pope Benedict XVI arrives in the country for World Youth Day.
   Letters obtained by the ABC and aired on Monday showed Cardinal Pell told Anthony Jones, who had complained of being sexually assaulted by Father Terrence Goodall, that his complaint could not be upheld because the church was not aware of any other complaints.
   But another letter shows Cardinal Pell was aware of a second allegation of sexual abuse against Father Goodall.
   Cardinal Pell yesterday said he had got it wrong and expressed himself poorly.
   Tonight, the ABC revealed another letter which showed why Cardinal Pell dismissed Mr Jones' complaint: because he gave weight to Father Goodall's side of the story.
   "What cannot be determined by me however is whether it was a matter of sexual assault as you state or homosexual behaviour between two consenting adults as maintained by Father Goodall," said the letter, written by Cardinal Pell to Mr Jones in 2003.
   "In the end it is a matter of your word against his."
   Mr Jones maintained the encounter was not consensual.
   Father Goodall was later convicted of indecent assault.
   The ABC also revealed an internal church report which found Father Goodall had had sexual encounters with a 16-year-old female, as well as Mr Jones and the other young male complainant.
   Father Goodall admitted to asking altar boys to swim nude, and to propositioning young men, the report found. #

[New evidence about Pell’s contradictory Jones case letters, plus comments by lawyer Jason Parkinson, and Vatican writer Robert Blair Kaiser]

   Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Lateline, with Tony Jones, July 8, 2008.
   "New evidence in church abuse case," http://www. abc.net.au/ lateline/ content/ 2008/ s2298207. htm . Last night Lateline aired evidence that Catholic Archbishop Cardinal George Pell misrepresented the truth when he responded to a man who complained he'd been abused by a priest.  Tonight we reveal new evidence that Church investigators - and through them, the Archbishop - were later told by the same priest that he had assaulted another victim: a 16-year-old girl.  We also raise a series of new questions, including why George Pell gave weight to the abusive priest's word that his attack on Anthony Jones was, in fact, consensual.  [Victim not to be confused with the Lateline presenter Tony Jones.]
   "Jason Parkinson joins Lateline," http:// www.abc.net. au/lateline/ content/ 2008/ s2298206. htm . Canberra-based lawyer Jason Parkinson says the Catholic Church has been avoiding its legal liabilities.  He will be representing former students who are among more than 30 involved in abuse claims being brought against the Marist College in Canberra.  The Church is trying to use the Ellis/Ellice case, to make complainants seek compensation from the individual clergy, brothers, etc.
   "Robert Kaiser joins Lateline," http:// www.abc.net. au/lateline/ content/ 2008/ s2298205. htm , Writer and journalist Robert Blair Kaiser has been covering the Catholic Church since the 1960s, when he was Time Magazine's Vatican correspondent.  He joined Lateline from Melbourne.  [Robert Blair Kaiser's website includes http://www. robertblair kaiser.com/ Kinterview. html .]

Archbishop apologises for ignoring sex claims

   The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , By GARY ADSHEAD and SEAN COWAN, Pages One and 10, Wednesday, July 9, 2008
   PERTH – Archbishop Barry Hickey has been forced to apologise for his failure to act on allegations of sexual misconduct inside the Catholic-backed Bethel Covenant Community when they were reported to him seven years ago.
   Five days after The West Australian exposed what and when the Archbishop knew about the scandal, the Church leader admitted the report had "got lost in the paperwork" and had fallen "through the cracks".
   In a statement. Archbishop Hickey said his response to a 2000 report about the West Leederville community and its now disgraced former leader Kevin Horgan was inadequate.
   "Those who brought me their assessment of the situation in 2000 were entitled to expect that I would investigate their concerns more fully," he said.  "On reflection, it is clear to me that I could have done much more for the Bethel people than I did. For this I apologise."
   But the Archbishop denied he had been deceitful in May this year when he told The West Australian the first complaints of sexual misconduct were brought to his and the Church's attention only in 2007.
   In yesterday's two-page statement, the Archbishop argued that the 2000 report contained details of "sexual issues which focused on behaviour of a very unsavoury kind and possible sexual boundary violations".
   He said these were not "sexual allegations" and repeated his claim that the first full-blown complaint came in February this year.
  [Pictures] Admission: Barry Hickey says he failed to take action.  Denial: George Pell denies covering up abuse. Picture: Getty images  
   He said recent publicity about Bethel and Mr Horgan showed people were still suffering because of their experiences inside the lay Catholic organisation.
   "I deeply regret that and I am sorry for any part I might have played in it," he said.
   He also addressed the sexual harassment allegations made this week by a former head of religious studies at the Chisholm Catholic College. The woman said she had told Archbishop Hickey in 1994 that Mr Horgan had rubbed his genitals against her at a family lunch.
   "I treated it as a personal counselling session for a young woman carrying a burden, not as a formal complaint to Church authorities seeking action against another individual," the Archbishop said. "If that was a misunderstanding, I apologise to her."
   The woman accepted the apology yesterday but rejected the notion her meeting with the Archbishop was counselling. "I had a duty of care to complain as a leader of young people in the community," she said. "Why didn't he go and do something?"
   In the 14 years since the woman complained, Mr Horgan has allegedly touched the breasts of married women, asked women to remove their underwear, talked about their favourite sexual positions and encouraged them to have breast enlargements.
Continued on page 10
Hickey apologises on sex claims
From page 1
   According to the 2000 report, Bethel was run like a cult with its leaders demanding to know everything about members' lives.
   "In the years before 2000, I had extensive contact with Mr Horgan and other Bethel leaders about controversial practices at Bethel," Archbishop Hickey said. "One was their restrictive dating policy which gave leaders extensive control. Another was the guidance given by the leader to married couples about intimate sexual matters."
  [Picture] Kevin Horgan  
   Mr Horgan was asked to resign from the community this year after being confronted with a catalogue of allegations about his behaviour. The claims were referred to police but no charges have been laid. #

And Pell sorry for actions too

   The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , Pages One and 10, Wednesday, July 9, 2008
   SYDNEY – The Archbishop of Sydney yesterday denied he had covered up abuse by a Sydney priest as new claims emerged about what he knew of the clergyman's history of sexual assault.
   Under questioning at a press conference, Cardinal George Pell refused to stand aside or resign over his treatment of a 2003 sexual assault claim by Lismore man Anthony Jones against Father Terence Goodall.
   Documents aired by the ABC's Lateline program on Monday night showed Cardinal Pell had rejected Mr Jones' assault claims despite advice from a Church investigator that said they should be substantiated.
   They also show that Cardinal Pell did not alter his view or inform Mr Jones of the recommendation despite a July 2003 Church report that said Father Goodall was guilty of other sexual and indecent assaults, had "no boundaries" and "no sympathy for victims" and "was likely to reoffend".
   Cardinal Pell said yesterday he had not contacted Mr Jones after realising he had misrepresented the investigator's findings but that he considered the matter closed.
   Cardinal Pell wrote to Mr Jones in 2003 saying the Church's investigator, former policeman Howard Murray, had not found his rape claim to be substantiated and that there had been no other complaints against Father Goodall.
Continued on page 10
No abuse cover-up: Archbishop
From page 1
   Both statements were untrue, Cardinal Pell said yesterday, but "there was no cover-up". The letter was "badly worded and a mistake", "an innocent error" and an "overstatement".
   Documents obtained by the ABC showed Cardinal Pell wrote to a second victim the same day to say he believed the man's claim of indecent assault.
   Documents aired by Lateline last night showed Cardinal Pell was informed in July 2003 that Father Goodall had also abused a girl of 16, invited altar boys to strip naked and had had consensual sex with an adult male.
   Three months after the first letter, Cardinal Pell wrote to Mr Jones saying: "In the end it is a matter of your word against his."
   The error was an embarrassing revelation a week before World Youth Day, Cardinal Pell said yesterday, but he defended his record dealing with sexual abuse by Catholic clergy.
   He said his position on Mr Jones' assault had been validated by a subsequent criminal case where the prosecution did not allege sexual assault.
   Mr Jones said Cardinal Pell was "dishonest" and had undermined an expected apology from Pope Benedict XVI to Australian abuse victims. #

Hickey backed Bethel chief despite protests

   The West Australian, http://www. thewest.com. au/default. aspx?MenuID= 77&Content ID=83645 , By GARY ADSHEAD and SEAN COWAN, p 10, Wednesday, July 9, 2008
   PERTH – Ousted Bethel Covenant Community leader Kevin Horgan was given the full backing of Archbishop Barry Hickey despite complaints that went all the way to the Vatican in Rome.
   The Perth Archbishop wrote a letter of support to Mr Horgan in October 1994 after the Church was contacted by individuals and other Catholic-based covenants around Australia about Mr Horgan’s behaviour.
   "There is nothing in the feedback I have received to give me or you serious concerns," Archbishop Hickey wrote.
   He said there was "evidence of very strong support for Mr Horgan and other community elders" from within Bethel.
   "I thank you for the witness you constantly give to the Lord’s work and to the power of the Holy Spirit, and assure you that you have my confidence," he wrote.
   In a statement yesterday, Archbishop Hickey said he had received no complaints of a sexual nature from the other covenants.
   But on Monday, The West Australian revealed that a Catholic religious studies teacher and former Bethel member had met the Archbishop in May 1994, claiming that Mr Horgan had sexually harassed her and was exerting too much control over Bethel.
   Six months later, in the letter to Mr Horgan, the Church head told the Bethel leader he had nothing to worry about, though there were some matters that needed to be discussed further.
   "In a word, there is nothing seriously wrong in the Bethel community," he wrote.
   "I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you and Father Chris Ross to discuss some other matters that have come to light through that consultation, which I believe could be of benefit to the life and growth of the Bethel Community."
   The West Australian has obtained letters between Bethel and Eastern States covenants suggesting grave concerns about Mr Horgan’s leadership.
   Brian Smith, the president of the Catholic Fraternity – the covenants’ umbrella body in Australia – went to see Archbishop Hickey in 1994 with his complaints.
   Around the same time, Mr Smith wrote to Mr Horgan.
   "I have asked a number of brothers to put in writing some of the concerns that they have experienced with you in the areas of possible control and manipulation," Mr Smith wrote.
   "The seriousness of the situation necessitates more immediate action."
   Another Catholic community wrote to Mr Horgan about his behaviour during a trip to the US and the way he talked about sex to American Catholic Fraternity executives.
   "Just think for a moment Kevin, no Archbishop, Liaison or Bishop Paul Cordes will condone policies that take control over a person’s life or where a person is not free to follow their conscience," the elder wrote.
   After receiving complaints about the Australian feud and allegations surrounding Mr Horgan, powerful Vatican Bishop Paul Cordes sent a letter to Mr Smith and the Bethel leader.
   "You must reconcile yourselves," Bishop Cordes told the men.
   "We all need again and again pardon from God for our sins.
   "So, please no longer speak of the faults of the past, but rather seek solutions for the future."
   Almost 14 years later, as a result of the controversy, Mr Horgan resigned. #

Catholic community shuts after Archbishop’s apology

     The West Australian, http://www. thewest.com. au/default. aspx?MenuID= 77&ContentID= 83876 , 17:30 WST, July 9, 2008
   PERTH – A controversial Catholic community will close down in the wake of an apology by Perth's Archbishop over his handling of allegations against it, some involving sexual impropriety.   
   The Bethel Covenant Community, a lay Catholic organisation in Perth, said today recent misconduct and longer term structural, cultural and behavioural issues made its existence unjustifiable.
   "We deeply regret that the original genuine Christian mission of the community has been subverted by certain actions and activities that the remaining members of the community find totally unacceptable and do not condone," Bethel interim chairman Rob Crothers said on its website.
   The closure of the community comes just days before the Pope's visit to Australia, and amid pressure on the Catholic church's senior figure in Australia, Cardinal George Pell, over his handling of sex abuse claims.
   The Bethel Covenant Community has been the subject this year of allegations of sexual impropriety, financial irregularities and "cult-like" activities.  
   Among its controversial practices, members were strongly discouraged from seeking sexual or romantic partners outside the group, were subject to excessive leadership styles and, allegedly, to sexual misconduct.
   In a recent complaint about sexual misconduct, a woman said she raised her top in defiance of a leader's continued interest in her breasts.
   The leader named in the complaint, and after other complaints of a sexual nature, has since stood down from the organisation.
   The allegations yesterday drew an extraordinary apology from Perth's Archbishop Barry Hickey, who admitted he had responded "inadequately" to issues raised with him in 2000, but which also date back to 1994.
   He said recent publicity had revealed some people were still suffering from experiences they had while members of the community.
   "I deeply regret that and I am sorry for any part I might have played in it," Archbishop Hickey said.
   "Those who brought me their assessment of the situation in 2000 were entitled to expect that I would investigate their concerns more fully.
   "On reflection, it is clear to me that I could have done much more for the Bethel people than I did. For this I apologise."
   Archbishop Hickey denied any deceit by him or by Auxiliary Bishop Don Sproxton, who earlier this year heard complaints about sexual misconduct which led in March to the resignation of the community's leader.
   He said a review of the community in 1994 had raised complaints about the leader's style of management, the excessive control of members and inadequate reporting on finances.
   Archbishop Hickey said in the years before 2000 he had had "extensive contact" with Bethel leaders over controversial practices such as restrictions on who members dated, and on guidance by the leader to married couples about intimate sexual matters.
   But he said the review in 1994 was mainly about the style of management, the dating policy, and spiritual direction - not about sexual complaints.
   Bethel leaders had also strongly defended their practices, he said.
   A spokesman for Archbishop Hickey said today the community's decision was one only it could make, but he agreed with it.  West Australian police say none of the recent complaints have led to any charges.
   The Bethel community says its net assets will be transferred to other charitable organisations.   PERTH -- AAP # [Internet version]

Bethel

There has been no deceit: Archbishop Hickey

   The Record (R.C. Perth, W. Australia, weekly), by RC Archbishop Barry Hickey of Perth, Page Vista 4, Wednesday, July 9, 2008
The following statement on claims regarding his part in the allegations made against the Bethel Community was issued by Archbishop Barry Hickey on Tuesday this week.
Recent publicity about past events at the Bethel Community has revealed that some people are still suffering from experiences they had while members of the community.
   I deeply regret that and I am sorry for any part I might have played in it.
   Those who brought me their assessment of the situation in 2000 were entitled to expect that I would investigate their concerns more fully.
   On reflection, it is clear to me that I could have done much more for the Bethel people than I did. For this I apologise.
   I am writing to those who approached me in 2000 with my apology. However, I would like to assure the Bethel people and the community at large that there has been no deceit by me or my Auxiliary Bishop Don Sproxton in response to media questions about events.
   The initial media report in May 2008 concerned allegations compiled in 2007 and delivered to Bishop Sproxton. In his investigation he created opportunities for individuals to raise complaints about sexual misconduct, but none was raised.
   The first complaint about sexual misconduct was made to Bishop Sproxton by a woman on February 28, 2008.
   On March 11, at a meeting of elders with Bishop Sproxton, the leader agreed to the Bishop's request that he stand down from the day-to-day running of the community.
   A week later at a community meeting, other complaints of a sexual nature were raised and the leader resigned entirely from the community. The leadership has since been completely restructured.
   The 2000 document was not "a 13-page report detailing sexual allegations" as reported in the morning newspaper on July 7 and 8. It was a 13-page document which included a half-page on "sexual issues" which focused on behaviour of a very unsavoury kind and "possible sexual boundary violations".
   None of the matters raised in either report concerned children. Bishop Sproxton was not involved in 2000, and I accept full responsibility for my inadequate response.
   With regard to the 1994 event reported on Monday, I treated it as a personal counselling session for a young woman carrying a burden, not as a formal complaint to Church authorities seeking action against another individual.   If that was a misunderstanding, I apologise to her.
   However, there was a full review of the Bethel Community and the views of its members in 1994, conducted by a non-member.
   It raised the complaints that often arose about the leader's style of management and communication, the excessive control of members, and inadequate reporting on finances.
   The members also expressed overwhelming support for the spiritual benefits they received from Bethel.
   In the years before 2000 I had extensive contact with Mr Horgan and other Bethel leaders about controversial practices at Bethel.  One was their restrictive dating policy which gave the leaders extensive control.
   Another was the guidance given by the leader to married couples about intimate sexual matters. This caused resentment among some and was welcomed by others.
   Bethel belonged to a worldwide fraternity of like covenant communities.
   They were not established by the Church, but were approved by the Church both as Catholic and ecumenical organisations freely entered into and with no obligation to stay.
   Mr Smith's visit in 1994 was part of the peer monitoring of the fraternity.
   His concerns were mainly about style of management, the dating policy, and the spiritual direction given to individuals and couples. They were not about sexual complaints.
   When I met with Mr Horgan and the Bethel elders to discuss all of these matters; they strongly defended their practices.
   It is clear at the present time that the members of the Bethel Community have taken responsibility for their own organisation and its leadership.
   Bishop Sproxton is working with them to they ensure that their future policies, practices and attitudes to one another are of the high standard that attracted people to covenant communities in the first place.

2000 Bethel report was ‘cauterised’

   The Record (W. Australia), By Joanna Lawson, Page Vista 4, Wednesday, July 9, 2008
   PERTH (W.A.), Australia – The Bethel whistleblower whose report kicked off the archdiocese's investigation into allegations of sexual innuendo and manipulation by some leaders inside the covenant community has confirmed that a 2000 report to Archbishop Barry Hickey was toned down to avoid the risk of defamation actions.
   The confirmation comes as WA media appeared to imply Archbishop Hickey had covered up knowledge of serious violations of sexual morality and inappropriate behaviour.
   The source, who asked not to be named, said that the allegations in the 2000 report were purposely "cauterised" to prevent defamation actions being taken against the authors of the report.
   "The report that went to the Bishop only said that 'there was a crossing of boundaries'" he said, referring to activities going on within the community.
   The latest allegations against former Bethel leader Kevin Horgan and several other leaders within the community began in 2007 when two women members of the community approached the man who had given a talk to community members on the virtue of modesty.
   As a result of allegations made by the women, the man said he approached the Auxiliary Bishop with his concerns and was asked to submit a report for consideration.
   He then collated and submitted a 21-page report.
   "He read it and asked me to write a second one, and then a third one."
   Subsequent to the handing in of the second set of reports, meetings were held between Bethel leaders including Mr Horgan, Frank Carr and Peter Dudley and Perth Auxiliary Bishop Donald Sproxton.
   At the conclusion of the meetings it was suggested by the Auxiliary Bishop that there be changes in the leadership.  This did not imply that any allegations which might have been made were considered proven.
   Bethel has since taken down its website and set up an Interim Operations Review Group.
   The group describes itself as independent and says it will manage the community and takes no direction from the previous leadership body.
   The priest who has served as chaplain to Bethel through most of its existence told The Record that the 2007 allegations came to him as a "shock."
   "It was not until last year that I got the email while I was in Chicago, and I replied saying that I was very shocked … I used that word, 'shocked'," he said.
   Father Christopher Ross said he had no idea there were allegations of sexual impropriety in the group until he was sent an email last year by a concerned member who was uncomfortable with reports women in the Community were being inappropriately touched.
   "There was a big review commissioned back in 1994 which invited members to air their views, and what came out were concerns mainly with structure and authority," said Father Ross.
   "If you looked at it {the Community's setup} negatively you'd say it was control, and if you looked at it positively you'd say it was structure, and that structure was part of community life. If you didn't like the structure, then I'd say 'Go, let your feet do the talking'."
   "My recollection was that for every one letter of complaint, there were three people saying that the Community was good for their spiritual life.
   "Around that time a fair amount of people left the Community, but no allegations were made about sexual harassment.
   In his statement this week Archbishop Hickey said he understood the 1994 meeting between himself and a woman regarding Bethel was for personal counselling rather than as a formal complaint.  However he also apologised publicly to her if he had misunderstood the purposes of the meeting.
   "The distinction can be made I that Bethel is an ecumenical, not a Catholic organisation, it belongs to the Association of Charismatic Movements, which is Christian, not Catholic," said Father Ross.
   "The Archbishop is responsible for the pastoral care of his people who are in the Community.
   "Bethel is a lay community with a lay structure, and I personally feel that this blowup occurred and it was its own people that stopped it, not the Bishop going in and telling people what to do."
   On its web page (in place of the Community's former website) the IORG states its goal is "to provide structure and transparency to facilitate dealing with immediate issues, interim operations and the required changes within Bethel."
   The Record contacted a member of the new Bethel leadership group however he said he had nothing of value to tell the paper.
   He told The Record that Bethell was focused on healing as a Community and meetings determining the future of the group were yet to be held. #

Bethel shuts doors but Archbishop won’t resign

   The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , By SEAN COWAN, Pages One and 6, Thursday, July 10, 2008
  [Picture] Archbishop Barry Hickey  
   PERTH – Bethel Covenant Community, Catholic group at the centre of a sex scandal which has brought into question the credibility of Perth Archbishop Barry Hickey, has closed its doors and will donate its assets worth $12 million to charity.
   But Archbishop Hickey, who failed to act on sexual misconduct claims about Bethel leader Kevin Horgan in 1994 and again in 2000, yesterday refused to resign.
   The West Australian has revealed that Mr Horgan, the brother of wealthy Catholic benefactor and Leeuwin Estate owner Denis Horgan, resigned in February from the position he held at Bethel for more than 25 years after female community members complained he regularly groped their breasts and encouraged many of them to have breast enlargement operations.
   Yesterday, the new Bethel leadership group told The West Australian the community had to close.  "We continue to totally abhor and condemn the abuse that has occurred at Bethel," member Greg Diamond said.  "It was totally contrary to Christian beliefs and morals.  The structural and cultural issues driven by some past leaders were totally unacceptable according to any community moral standards.
   "There were fundamental failures of governance, culture and behaviour at Bethel which overstepped acceptable boundaries.  Bethel, as has been constituted and in its current location, cannot continue.  It is a source of too much pain for too many people."
   The decision was made after a meeting of Bethel's remaining 100 members on Tuesday night, and the community signs were removed from its West Leederville headquarters yesterday.  A planned visit by Auxiliary Bishop Donald Sproxton on Sunday has been cancelled.
Continued on page 6
Sex scandal forces Bethel to shut down
From page 1
   Interim Bethel leader Rob Crothers said the community's assets, consisting mainly of the $12 million headquarters and its contents, would be sold. The proceeds could not be given to its members, but had to go to a group with similar aims to Bethel.
   He said the group wanted to continue a program aimed at developing the Christian faith of young children.
   Mr Diamond, Mr Crothers and fellow leadership group member Kathryn Probert said Bethel had not been all bad. They would remain friends with many of its 800 members and former members, most of whom had not known about the abuses until February.
   "There has been a lot of trauma over the last six months and a lot of people expressing anger and hurt, but the meeting was a little bit different because everyone knew the curtain was coming down," Mr Diamond said.  "There were a lot of tears last night, but there was a sense that out of this may come new hope – a phoenix from the ashes."
  [Picture] Closed: Glue is all that remains of the sign at the Bethel Covenant Community in West Leederville.    Picture: Steve Ferrier  
   Mr Crothers said Bethel had paid for counselling for 35 members and former members and would continue to do so. "Closing the community is not an attempt to sweep things under the carpet.  It's a response to people's hurt and pain and a recognition that boundaries have been overstepped and our governance structure hasn't done what it should have done," Mr Crothers said.
   Archbishop Hickey admitted yesterday that revelations that he had initially failed to act on complaints about Mr Morgan might have damaged the Church's standing in Perth.
   "But I hope it doesn't. Even my act of asking forgiveness for the people that I have let down by not doing enough for them is something that my faith obliges me to do," he said. #

Cardinal considers reopening assault investigation

   The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , p 6, Thursday, July 10, 2008
   SYDNEY – Cardinal George Pell says he will consider reopening an investigation into whether a man was sexually assaulted by a Sydney Catholic priest in 1982 after hearing what he described as new information on the case.
   A taped phone conversation between Anthony Jones and Father Terence Goodall was played on the ABC's Lateline last night.
   In it, Father Goodall said he had not told Catholic Church investigators that Mr Jones consented to a sexual encounter in 1982, undermining Cardinal Pell's rejection of Mr Jones' sexual assault claims.
   Australia's most senior Catholic clergyman is under fire over a 2003 letter in which he erroneously said a Church investigator had not upheld Mr Jones' complaint of sexual assault against Father Goodall.
   Cardinal Pell called it "an innocent error" on Tuesday but stuck to his view there was not enough evidence of sexual assault despite the contrary findings of the Church investigator.  The main reason Cardinal Pell rejected the claim was that Father Goodall "categorically denies the accusation" of sexual assault.
   But in the phone tap, Father Goodall told Mr Jones: "I certainly didn't say it was consensual, I don't know where they got that from."  He apologised to Mr Jones "because I thought I'd forced myself on you … it was really, it was a very, very wrong thing to do and I was taking advantage of another man and it was very bad".
   The conversation was recorded by police in 2003 for Father Goodall's criminal trial, where he was convicted of indecently assaulting Mr Jones.
   Asked if he would reopen the investigation, Cardinal Pell said: "Well, we would.  I'd certainly take legal advice.  I would.  I've always said I'm happy to talk with Jones and if this new information is verified I'd certainly talk with him on a new basis."
   Lateline reported that Cardinal Pell's lawyers had had the taped conversation since 2005. #

Cardinal Pell refers abuse complaint

   The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , http://www. thewest.com. au/aapstory. aspx?Story Name=496950 , AAP, 21:18 WST, July 10, 2008
   SYDNEY – The Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, has referred rape allegations against a former priest to an independent panel, including retired NSW Supreme Court Judge Bill Priestly.
   Cardinal Pell has re-opened investigations into Father Terrence Goodall after phone taps recorded the convicted priest saying a sexual encounter with his adult victim Anthony Jones was not consensual, as he first claimed.
   In 2003, Cardinal George Pell dismissed a sex abuse complaint against Father Goodall, because he gave weight to the priest's claim the encounter was consensual.
   Cardinal Pell dismissed Anthony Jones' complaint despite Mr Jones' protestations to the contrary.
   However, in 2003 police phone transcripts - played [sic] on ABC Television on Wednesday night, Father Goodall admitted to Mr Jones that the encounter was not consensual.
   Mr Jones, now 54, was sexually abused by Father Goodall in 1982 and informed the church about it 20 years later.
   In 2005, Father Goodall was convicted of indecently assaulting Mr Jones after pleading guilty to the charges, but served no time in prison.
   Dr Pell has now referred the rape allegations to an independent panel, the church said.
   "Although the complaints of Mr Anthony Jones have been dealt with by the Church, the criminal court and the civil court, out of consideration for Mr Jones, Cardinal George Pell has formally referred the matters raised this week to an independent consultative panel established under Towards Healing protocols," it said in a statement.
   "The panel, which is chaired by retired NSW Supreme Court judge Bill Priestley QC, has been asked to advise Cardinal Pell on the options open to him.
   "It consists of prominent lay people from the fields of law, business, and psychiatry, as well as a senior priest."
   The panel would report back as soon as possible, the church said.
   Cardinal Pell has become embroiled in the Goodall sex abuse scandal just days before Pope Benedict XVI arrives in the country for World Youth Day.
   Letters obtained by the ABC and aired on Monday showed Cardinal Pell told Mr Jones that his complaint could not be upheld because the church was not aware of any other complaints against the priest.
   But another letter showed Cardinal Pell was aware of a second allegation of sexual abuse against Father Goodall.
   It was also revealed that an internal church report found Father Goodall had had sexual encounters with a 16-year-old female, as well as Mr Jones and the other young male complainant.
   Cardinal Pell earlier this week said he got his decision wrong and had expressed himself poorly in the letter to Mr Jones.
   Mr Jones' lawyer Peter Karp was critical of the panel investigation, saying it was just "another in-house look at Tony's matters".
   "It's already been looked at before - it's very clear what the evidence is all about," he told ABC's Lateline program.
   "I don't think that it is going to be acceptable."
   Mr Karp said the abuse case against Father Goodall had been going for too long, and his client wanted "resolution now".
   "If we just go back to where he was at the start before those letters were sent, what he wanted then (was) just a small amount of compensation, a letter of apology, acknowledgment of the wrong that's done to him," he said. -- AAP #

Pell hands sex case to panel

      The West Australian, www.thewest.com.au , SEE http://www.thewest.com.au/aapstory.aspx?StoryName=496950 , p 7, Friday, July 11, 2008
   SYDNEY – The Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, has referred sexual assault allegations against a former priest to an independent panel, including retired NSW Supreme Court Judge Bill Priestly.
   Cardinal Pell referred the allegation to the panel after a week of controversy surrounding his handling of allegations against Father Terence Goodall.
   Dr Pell dismissed sexual assault allegations against Goodall in 2003 after accepting the priest's claim the encounter with Anthony Jones was consensual. #

Bishop Fisher ‘passes by on the other side’

     "Hopeful Reader," Letter to The Editor, The Sydney Morning Herald, and similar to other news outlets, Sent on Thursday, July 17, 2008
   I fully support the outrage felt by the connections of the victims of clergy sex abuse, following the smiling [sic] statement of Bishop Anthony Fisher (telecast July 16).
   Particularly hurtful to me were his words "… dwelling crankily, as a few people are doing, on old wounds."
   They are not old wounds, because new offenders are being uncovered every month, and because the betrayal of decency lives on in the hearts of the survivors, and have the potential to harm their loved ones, for years.
   Proving him wrong even more seriously, every month there are newly-uncovered cases in many religions, not just Roman Catholicism.
   Roman Catholic Australian personnel in trouble in recent weeks include --

Father David O'Hearn, of St Michael's parish, Nelson Bay (stood aside, reported June 2 http://www .abc.net.au/ news/stories/ 2008/06/02/ 2262101.htm );

Fr Paul Raymond Evans, at Boys' Town at Engadine, NSW (June 18 report http://www. manlydaily. com.au/ article/ 2008/06/18/ 10672_ news.html );

Brother Kostka, i.e., John William Chute (June 23 http://www. abc.net.au/ news/stories/ 2008/06/23/ 2283225. htm?section= justin )
   Sydney has much cause to feel grateful to the retired Sydney Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, who months ago, told an audience in Australia, "John Paul II could have stopped this scandal, and he did nothing."
   For this he was accused of heresy by a ranking cardinal in Rome and told to scrap his US tour.  He came anyway, with a speech in his pocket that blamed the last Pope for contributing to the sex scandal that has shaken the church as seismically as Luther shook it more than 500 years ago. (SMH, July 1, http:// www. smh.com. au/news/ opinion/ celibate- equals- sexless- equals- an-unholy- mess/ 2008/06/30/ 12146779 38028.html )
   Bishop Robinson had spent years trying to heal the survivors of Catholic sex-abusing clergy. He has been working to clean up the mess.
   But other religions are not free of this scourge.
   Adelaide Anglicans are selling their archbishop's residence because of the seductions of 36 boys by CEBS youth worker Robert Brandenburg (reported June 9 http://www. religious intelligence. co.uk/ news/? NewsID=2128 ), and several Churches joined South Australian premier Mike Rann in apologising for the child abuse in Church-run orphanages etc. from the 1930s onwards (reported around June 17 http://www. news24. com/News24/ World/News/ 0,,2-10- 1462_ 2341 921,00. html ).
   Canada had made a similar apology [June 11], and so has New Zealand [for Britain stealing Maori land, June 26], in recent months.
   It is alleged that one convicted priest is still being allowed to say mass next to a school (June 22 http://www. brisbanetimes. com.au/news/ national/ convicted- priest-still- serving/ 2008/06/21/ 1214009 167391.html )
   Around 2002 the Vatican's Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope) said that less than one per cent of priests were involved in sex abuse.
   Brave survivors of sex abuse have exposed so much, and so many books have been written on the subject, that there is no excuse for not knowing that four per cent of RC clergy in the US have been exposed, as shown by Church records, and the percentage is rising.
   Bishop Fisher is not alone in his attitude of apparent heartlessness, and wanting to be "enjoying" and "delighting" as ceremonies go on.
   The same wish to move on has been displayed in recent weeks by the lack of action ("lost in the paperwork" for 14 years) over the Bethel Covenant Community in Perth, and the refusal to pay proper compensation to Anthony Jones ("consensual sex"), Emma and Katherine Foster, and others in the Eastern States
   The television responses by both archbishops were quite unconvincing.
   Hopes for the Pope to apologise in Australia, as he did for five days running in the USA, will not cause a dysfunctional system of wrongheadness to stop teaching quite unconvincing sex rules which are being broken by a noticeable proportion of unconvinced clergy.
   The offenders have been shunted from place to place for decades, if not centuries.
   Apologies won't stop the Church spending many thousands of dollars trying to deny justice, even fighting extradition from Australia to New Zealand of three members of the St John of God male order (see June 18 http://www. stuff.co.nz/ 4588587 a11.html ). Two of them have been convicted in recent weeks.
   It is no wonder that the RCC and the NSW Government tried to stifle free speech during the Pope's visit.  Society in general will not just be "enjoying" and "delighting", even if churchgoers and leaders "pass by on the other side," as the parable of the Good Samaritan puts it. #