A Catholic priest remains on bail after being found
guilty of child sex offences committed in New South Wales over almost 30
years.
Father Finian Egan was on trial for seven counts of indecent
assault and one count of rape between 1961 and 1987, while he worked as a
priest at Leichhardt and Carlingford in Sydney, and The Entrance on the
Central Coast.
The court was told he targeted girls aged between 10 and 17.
Today in the Downing Centre District Court, a jury found 78-year-old Egan guilty of the eight charges.
The ABC understands that a complaint from one of his victims in
the case was upheld by the church in 2009, but it celebrated Egan's
career in a mass just weeks later.
He was also allowed to conduct mass in Sydney and was given
approval to do the same in Ireland, with no warning to the Irish church
about the findings.
Victim condemns church's handling of case
One of Egan's victims has condemned the handling of accusations of sexual offences against priests by the church.
"They didn't do anything," said the woman who must remain anonymous for legal reasons. They said, 'yes, he's been found guilty of what you've said',
but yet he wasn't held
accountable in any way shape or form. He remained
a priest. I asked them to de-robe him, and they said it was a very long,
drawn-out process and, therefore, it would not be happening - too hard."
She also criticised her experiences with Towards Healing, the
church's own process for dealing with complaints of sexual offences by
priests.
"It's an abomination," she said. "It was just the worst process to go through. They told us at the beginning it would take three months, and it took two years. I would say to them, 'why is it taking so long? What's going on,
you've already said you think he's guilty, then why are we still going
through this process?' And I was abused, I was yelled at, I was hung up on, and I was bullied."
'Sad day for Catholic Church'
David Walker is the Bishop of the Diocese of Broken Bay, which takes in the areas where Egan worked.
He says today is a sad day for the Catholic Church, but a day of vindication for the victims.
"We're very ashamed when these things happen," he said.
"But I think its a good thing, I think it's good that the victims
have been affirmed, that their allegations have been shown to be true."
Egan remains on bail on the condition he reports to police once a week.
He will be sentenced by Justice Robyn Tupman next month.