There are calls for police in New South Wales to open an investigation into three senior priests of the Catholic Church who failed to inform police of a priest's apparent admission of child sex abuse.This week the ABC's Four Corners program revealed a priest known as Father F met with three church leaders and admitted in that meeting to serious criminal behaviour involving altar boys in Moree and Parramatta dating back to the 1980s.
After the meeting he was suspended from the priesthood, although he remained a lay member of the church for 13 years after that.
The church responded to the Four Corners claims by denying there was any admission during the 1992 meeting with Father Brian Lucas, Father John Usher and Father Wayne Peters.
But this morning on the ABC's AM program, Father Lucas contradicted the church.
He says the priest admitted abusing boys, but police were not told because the victims were not identified.
"It was a very generalised discussion with him. He was certainly very, very cautious not to incriminate himself and very, very careful not to name any names," he said.
In 1992, when the meeting took place, it was a criminal offence to conceal a crime.
Father Lucas says he does not think he did anything illegal by not reporting the admission.
But some legal experts say it is possible church officials have broken the law.
Sydney University's Miiko Kumar, who worked as a police prosecutor for four years, believes a crime was committed.
"I think it does constitute a crime under the relevant section of the Crimes Act," she said. "For a person to commit an offence of concealing a crime, that person has to have information which might be of material assistance in securing the apprehension of an offender or the prosecution of an offender or the conviction of an offender."
'Serious information'
Ms Kumar says she believes police would have investigated a claim of child sex abuse, even if victims were not named.
"That is very serious information, revealing a very serious criminal offence, and it would be of material assistance to the police in being able to apprehend Father F and investigate those matters," she said.
"Now the section doesn't require that specific information be given as to names. I mean, that's a matter for the police to go and investigate."
The Australian Lawyers Alliance backs that view.
Its spokesman, Dr Andrew Morrison QC, says police should brief prosecutors in the wake of Father Lucas's comments.
"Two of the three people who were at the meeting say that clear admissions were made," he said.
"One of them is a little vaguer than the other, but he did not deny anything that was in Father Peters's letter to his bishop reporting on the meeting eight days later. That letter contains very clear admissions of sexual abuse of a very serious nature of five altar boys. Those are very serious matters and there was a clear obligation to report them to the police. The only excuse that was given was that they didn't know the names of the altar boys. Well, of course they didn't, they didn't ask."
Dr Morrison says any decision to charge the officials rests with the Director of Public Prosecutions.
'Overwhelming' claims
But he says he believes the case for laying charges is overwhelming.
"They could readily have found out in a small country town which five altar boys were associated with Father F during a two-year period, and then that material would have readily been available to assist the police, but the investigation is a matter for the police," he said.
"It is not for the church to decide that they don't want to disclose these matters to the police, because what that does is it avoids triggering a police investigation which would have disclosed very serious sexual abuse."
The Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney has issued a statement today, sticking to the original explanation that no admission of actual criminal conduct was made by Father F.
"If Father F had made admissions of actual criminal conduct, Monsignor Usher has confirmed he would have reported this to the police," the statement said.
An internal church investigation has begun since the Four Corners program.
The church has told The World Today that its Sydney Archdiocese has contacted NSW Police and promised to cooperate with any police investigation.
The NSW Crimes Act needs the attorney-general to approve the laying of charges against people in some professions who are believed to be concealing information about alleged crimes.
Religious clergy fall into that category.
Both NSW Police and the Director of Public Prosecutions declined to comment.