THE Pope's representative in
Canberra, and potentially the Vatican itself, were involved in an
attempt by senior Australian Catholic bishops to defrock a pedophile
priest rather than report his crimes to police, an inquiry has heard. Three successive bishops in Newcastle also had knowledge that Father Denis McAlinden was abusing children, while bishops in England, The Philippines and Papua New Guinea were warned of allegations against him.
In an exchange of letters with McAlinden during the 1990s, the late bishop of Maitland-Newcastle Leo Clarke asked him to petition the Holy See in Rome for a formal laicisation -- effectively ending his career as a priest.
"Your good name will be protected by the confidential nature of this process," Clarke wrote.
"A speedy resolution of this matter would be in your interest as I have it on good authority that some people are threatening to take it to the police."
These letters, among others tendered to the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry, show the decision to defrock McAlinden was made after consultation with other senior Australian bishops.
They reveal Clarke wrote to the apostolic nuncio, the Pope's representative in Canberra, in 1995 asking him to "use his network of communications to help expedite . . . a very delicate matter".
In this letter, Clarke wrote that the current general secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, Brian Lucas, spoke to McAlinden about allegations he was abusing children.
"At the interview, Father Denis admitted to Brian Lucas that the accusations were true," the letter said.
Other documents reveal Clarke's predecessor as bishop, the late John Toohey, received the earliest known report that McAlinden was abusing children, in 1954. Clarke's successor, Michael Malone, was also briefed on the allegations.
Some of the letters reveal the church possessed a number of addresses for McAlinden dating from only a few years before NSW Police launched an investigation into the priest in 1999 and were told he could not be contacted.
During the 1970s-90s, the inquiry has heard, McAlinden travelled to Britain, The Philippines and PNG.
In a 1993 letter to one of his British counterparts, tendered in evidence, Clarke said allegations had been made "concerning (McAlinden's) behaviour with small children some years ago. He admitted his behaviour".
In a subsequent letter to a Bishop Bantigue in The Philippines, Clarke wrote "the agreement entered into was that Father McAlinden should retire to Ireland".
"Some people from my diocese have found that he's not in Ireland but is reported to be working in your diocese," he wrote, requesting McAlinden be told to leave the country. "I fear if this is not done, the people concerned could proceed to the next step; that would have serious implications to your diocese, this diocese, Father McAlinden and the church."
The apostolic nuncio, archbishop Franco Brambilla, died in 2003.
McAlinden died in Western Australia in 2005.
Bishop Malone and Reverend Lucas are due to give evidence to the inquiry over the next two weeks.