Archbishop charged with abuse cover-up

A former president of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop Philip Wilson of Adelaide, has been charged with concealing a serious offence regarding child sexual abuse in New South Wales (NSW) almost 40 years ago. Archbishop Wilson is believed to be the highest-ranking Catholic official in the world to face charges of this type. He faces up to two years in jail.

Archbishop Wilson said he would vigorously defend his innocence and announced he intended to take some leave “to consult with a wide range of people in response to the information I have received today”. He is due to appear in Newcastle Local Court in New South Wales on 30 April and has hired one of Australia’s leading counsels, Ian Temby QC, to represent him.

The NSW police’s Strike Force Lantle has been investigating allegations of concealment of serious offences related to child abuse by clergy formerly and currently attached to the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese, in which Archbishop Wilson was born in 1950 and to which he was ordained a priest in 1975.
He was president of the bishops’ conference from 2006-12 and has been vice-president to Melbourne’s Archbishop Denis Hart since then.

“I am disappointed to have been notified by the NSW police that it has decided to file a charge in respect of this matter,” Archbishop Wilson said in a statement issued by the Archdiocese of Adelaide on Tuesday. “The suggestion appears to be that I failed to bring to the attention of police a conversation I am alleged to have had in 1976, when I was a junior priest, that a now deceased priest had abused a child.

“I intend to vigorously defend my innocence.”

Archbishop Hart said the presumption of innocence applied to Archbishop Wilson as it did to all citizens subject to criminal charges before the court.