The former Maitland and Newcastle Bishop, Michael Malone, said he was trying to trigger a confession from paedophile priest James Fletcher by warning him that police were investigating allegations he raped a boy in the Maitland area.
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Bishop Malone said it never crossed his mind that he hindered Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox’s investigation and told the special commission of inquiry he thought he “may have been able to trigger a confession that might circumvent a police investigation”.
The bishop said he first heard of the allegation from the victim’s father after his son’s attempted suicide but the church did not investigate because there was insufficient evidence to take it further.
He said “based on an educated guess that AH (the victim) and Fletcher would have both denied it” neither were interviewed about the incident.
By that time Maitland priests Vince Ryan and Denis McAlinden had been accused of sexually abusing children and the allegations against Fletcher left the bishop feeling “scared stiff”.
Despite telling the mother of Fletcher’s victim he knew paedophiles “lied through their teeth when confronted” with allegations, he allowed the priest to remain in the Lochinvar-Branxton parish.
“I did request him to stand aside but he rejected that,” the bishop said, later adding “it seemed to be Fletcher should have the benefit of the doubt”.
He said he still had concerns about the risk Fletcher posed to children and told the principal of the Branxton Catholic school, attached to the parish, to refuse the priest access.
Counsel assisting the inquiry, Julia Lonergan SC, questioned the bishop about the “fundamental inconsistency” in his thinking, asking: “Why didn’t you stand him down?”
Bishop Malone replied: “I wish I had.”
He said he did not attend the trial of Fletcher and did not offer pastoral care to the victim or his family and was ambivalent about the matter until he read the victim’s statement to police.
“Once I read AH’s statement I was convinced Fletcher was guilty,” said Bishop Malone who attracted gasps from the public gallery when he conceded he never told the victim or his family that.
He said he came to an epiphany about sexual abuse victims in 2004 during an ombudsman inquiry into the handling of the Fletcher matter.
“The lights went on for me ... That I was not adequately handling the matter.”
Earlier in the day Bishop Malone was cross-examined about his response to similar allegations against Denis McAlinden in the mid-1990s.
He said he knew about the allegations in 1995 but did not contact police until 1999 through a professional standards committee, which acted as a church conduit.
Ms Lonergan asked the bishop why he did not contact police earlier when he became aware attempts to defrock the paedophile were hopeless.
“You must remember I was being torn by the knowledge [the two women] didn’t want police involved,” Bishop Malone said.
The bishop agreed he did not warn police or other diocese in Western Australia, where he knew McAlinden was living.
When asked about his child protection obligations the bishop said: “I wasn’t fully aware of the issue, in my defence, I was on a sharp learning curve”.
He said he felt let down by his predecessor, Bishop Leo Clarke, who did not tell him about McAlinden’s history.
Bishop Malone said he did not question the retired Bishop Clarke about other possible victims or search the priest’s personnel file when the two women came forward.
