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BISHOP Michael Malone has denied suggestions he altered his personal diary to back his handling of the Jim Fletcher paedophile case, in his final day of public evidence in Newcastle.
Bishop Malone said he knew that Branxton Catholic school principal Will Callinan had told investigators he was not warned about the priest Fletcher in June 2002, but he had a ‘‘clear recollection’’ of the day.
Bishop Malone’s diary for 2002 was tendered to the inquiry yesterday, with a note on June 20, 2002, reading ‘‘trip to Branxton to see Jim Fletcher’’.
Mr Callinan’s counsel, William Potter, suggested a note on the same line – ‘‘(plus Will C)’’ – was added months later when Bishop Malone was being questioned by the Ombudsman over the Fletcher investigation.
Mr Callinan said the section in brackets was written with a different pen but Bishop Malone said he was ‘‘not a calligrapher’’ and ‘‘couldn’t really see it’’.
‘‘To me it all looks the same,’’ Bishop Malone said.
Mr Potter said the bishop could not have seen Mr Callinan because the principal was at another school at Greta that day.
Bishop Malone agreed ringing Mr Callinan in March 2003 about the 2002 matter but denied he was trying to ‘‘intimidate’’ the principal.
Bishop Malone closed his fourth and final public day in the Special Commission of Inquiry witness box with another apology to the victims of paedophile priests.
Bishop Malone spoke again of a personal journey that went from ‘‘shock and disbelief’’ at the claims of victims to ‘‘an angry rejection of such criminal behaviour’’ among his fellow clergy.
Five people – all victims or their families – made their protest felt by standing and leaving while Bishop Malone made his final address to the commission of inquiry.
Fletcher victim Peter Gogarty, who was at the bar table after cross-examining Bishop Malone earlier in the day, said the apology appeared heartfelt but it lacked an awareness of the deep structural issues – including the celibacy vows of Catholic priests – that many believed was intrinsic to the persistent nature of priestly paedophilia.
Immediately before delivering his prepared statement, Bishop Malone was asked by Commissioner Margaret Cunneen whether he believed Maitland-Newcastle had an unusual number of paedophile priests.
Bishop Malone, who entered a seminary in 1958 and became an assistant priest in 1965, said he couldn’t speak ‘‘first hand’’ for other dioceses but believed the ‘‘volume of cases’’ in Maitland-Newcastle had outweighed other dioceses.
Things might have happened in other dioceses but his status as a ‘‘local priest’’ meant he would not have known of any ‘‘inner knowledge’’ that bishops of the day might have had.
Asked if there was something ‘‘different’’ about Maitland-Newcastle, Bishop Malone said early settlers tended to separate along religious lines, so that Maitland was mainly Catholic while Morpeth and Gloucester were Anglican.
Asked if Maitland-Newcastle supplied more priests than other areas, Bishop Malone said the number of ‘‘vocations’’ was high across the board in the 1950s when he entered the seminary.
He said Maitland had once had about 120 (Catholic) priests and a lot of small parishes were established to ‘‘give them a job’’.
Ms Cunneen said it remained to be seen whether the Maitland-Newcastle diocese had a ‘‘particular problem’’ or whether the high incidence of cases was because of circumstances that encouraged people to speak out.
EARLIER REPORTS FROM YESTERDAY:
THE former Bishop of Maitland-Newcastle, Michael Malone, finished his public stint in the witness box on Monday by reading a prepared statement to the Special Commission of Inquiry.
Bishop Malone repeated the statement outside the Newcastle court buildings.
Although Bishop Malone apologised again for the hurt and damage done by decades of paedophilia in the diocese, five people in the inquiry left the room while he made his apology.
Bishop Malone talked about a need for ‘‘vigilance’’ and ‘‘accountability’’ but he did not touch on aspects of the Catholic Church – such as the insistence on priestly vows of celibacy – that some people believe are major factors in the church’s problem with paedophilia.
Bishop Malone said he prayed daily for the victims of child sexual abuse and he hoped they gained reconciliation with ‘‘all people, including the Catholic Church’’.
Bishop Malone noted his apology had followed a similarly ‘‘heartfelt’’ apology at the start of this session of the inquiry by his successor, Bishop Bill Wright.
He apologised for some ‘‘flippant’’ remarks earlier in the inquiry when he joked about destroying secret documents.
‘‘My words were insensitive and I apologise,’’ Bishop Malone said.
‘‘The evils of child sexual abuse should never have happened, but they did. With better systems in place, may they never happen again.’’
At the close of Monday’s hearing, Commissioner Margaret Cunneen asked Bishop Malone a short series of questions about what personal insights he may have gained into church paedophilia.
Bishop Malone, who moved to Maitland-Newcastle from the Central Coast, said he was unable to say if the Hunter had a worse problem than other areas.
But he did say that early settlement patterns meant that some Hunter towns, such as Maitland, were historically largely Catholic, while others, including Morpeth and Gloucester, were more Anglican in nature.
Ms Cunneen said Bishop Malone had finished giving evidence in public but he would be required in further in-camera sessions.
Public hearings are scheduled to resume at 2pm on Tuesday after a morning session behind closed doors.