A FORMER school principal who discovered a priest sexually abusing young children has accused the Archbishop of Adelaide of involvement in the "cover-up" that followed. Philip Wilson, who has served as Adelaide's Catholic leader since 2001 and also heads the national body of Australian bishops, was a senior priest in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese in the mid-1980s when allegations regarding Father Denis McAlinden arose.
McAlinden was caught fondling an eight-year old girl on his knee by Mike Stanwell, the new principal of St Joseph's primary school in Merriwa, northwest of Newcastle.
"Everybody was advising me not to do anything about it, but I thought this wasn't right," Mr Stanwell told The Australian.
What followed still weighs heavily on his conscience. Mr Stanwell visited then bishop Leo Clarke, who in turn sent his secretary, Father Wilson, to investigate the allegations.
Father Wilson spoke to the mother of the eight-year-old girl and confirmed the incident. He reported back to the bishop, but did not inform police of the allegations.
"He knew what was going on," Mr Stanwell said. "The only thing he said was what he said to the mother that she could take that to the police if she liked."
Archbishop Wilson has declined to answer a series of questions put to him through a spokeswoman, including why he himself had not gone to police about McAlinden.
"I reported back that there were suspicions and rumours about McAlinden's behaviour but couldn't get anyone to give a signed statement," Archbishop Wilson said in a statement. "I advised people that if they had any concerns to contact the police."
Mr Stanwell said the family's vulnerable circumstances and the pressure of living in a small community stopped the girl's parents telling police.
"In my opinion, it was up to Wilson to go to the police, not to put it back on the parents," he said.
Born in Cessnock, Archbishop Wilson has steadily risen through the church.
He was appointed Bishop of Wollongong in 1996 after studying canon law in the US, and became president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference in 2006.
His spokeswoman strenuously denied there had been a cover-up.
"He fulfilled his responsibilities," the spokeswoman said. "He filed his report for the bishop, and then it was up to the bishop to make a judgment on that."
Mr Stanwell did not tell police of the allegations either, saying emotionally he did not have the strength.
"He assured me that something would be done," Mr Stanwell said.
"Wilson was investigating it for the church, he found out it was true so he had an obligation to go to the police and say this is what's been happening, rather than put it on to a fragile family."
McAlinden was moved to another parish after the Merriwa incident, but was not stripped of his priestly facilities until the mid-1990s, after a trail of other allegations had surfaced. He died in Western Australia in 2005.
Clarke died in 2006.
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