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| Fr Frank Moloney |
Sydney University law professor Patrick Parkinson
said that members of the Salesian order tried to discredit a journalist
by falsely claiming he had spent time in jail for child sex offences,
reports the Age.
The Australian head of the Salesians, Father Frank Moloney, told the Age he had not discussed the rumour, except in conversation with Professor Parkinson.
He said he was in the US in 2004, when US journalist Reese Dunklin's
report about a convicted paedophile and Salesian priest had stirred up a
hornet's nest.
Fr Moloney heard the
allegation as ''chatter at the Catholic University of America in
Washington. I took it for granted that it was true. I certainly
apologised unconditionally for making that statement, but it was never a
statement made in the public forum.'