CHURCH RECORDS WOULD HAVE HELPED INVESTIGATORS
The Special Commission of Inquiry has been told that had the Catholic Church revealed documents relating to paedophile priest Denis McAlinden earlier, it would have greatly assisted with police investigations.
Counsel Assisting,Juila Lonergan SC told the commission that for several decades dating back to the 1950s, the Church had records relating to the paedophilic tendencies of Father Denis McAlinden.
Among them was correspondence from Monsignor Patrick Cotter in 1976 to the then Bishop of the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese Leo Clarke.
In it Msgr. Cotter says he’s aware of McAlinden’s tendencies to “touch” “young girls”
Other documents include separate letters from Bishop Clarke to another Bishop in Papua New Guinea and Western Australia, whish also make reference to his behaviour towards children.
In another piece of evidence tendered to the commission, Bishop Clarke “withdraws” Denis McAlinden’s “faculties” and orders him to cease presenting himself as a priest and to “not have any contact with people who may fear such contact”.
There was subsequent communication to a priest in the Philippines from Bishop Clarke stating McAlinden was not suitable to work as a priest.
Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox told the commission that had the Church come forward with this documentation at an earlier date ” I would have very vigorously been pursuing it be allowed as evidence in a trial”.
In relation to all documentation subsequently given to the Commission from the Church he stated, “if all this had been made available in 2003″… “it would have required a team of investigators” to explore it.
