Parramatta Bishop Anthony Fisher OP has decided to deal with the pastoral fallout over recent child sex abuse revelations head-on, writing a statement to the Faithful which was read out in Parramatta parishes last Sunday.
The statement begins with the first line of last Sunday’s Mass reading from the book of Jeremiah (23:1): “Doom for the shepherds who allow my flock to be destroyed and scattered – it is the Lord who speaks”.
Bishop Fisher said those were challenging words to hear at any time, but were particularly pertinent given recent events.
The statement was written in response to the case of “Fr F” who is alleged to have committed offences against at least six boys in the 1980s in his then-home Diocese of Armidale and in Parramatta, where he was later transferred.
Fr F was formally removed from public ministry in 1992 after an internal Church investigation and was laicised or “defrocked” in 2005.
“We were all shocked by the terrible story,” Bishop Fisher wrote. “It has resulted in public scrutiny of his behaviour … and of the adequacy of the Church’s response to allegations about him.
“It has reignited public condemnation of clerical abuse and criticism of the way it has sometimes been mishandled.”
Bishop Fisher and his Armidale counterpart, Bishop Michael Kennedy, made a joint announcement last week of the terms of reference of the independent investigation, headed by former Federal Court judge Antony Whitlam QC, also announced last week.
The inquiry will examine Fr F’s history of appointments, ministry and activities and “the nature and quality of the management of complaints received by alleged victims of Fr F”.
It will also examine the process that facilitated Fr F’s transfer to Parramatta, the sequence of events which led to his termination from ministry, and information related to a 1992 meeting of Fr F and three senior priests charged with investigating claims made about his
conduct.
The meeting, which ultimately led to Fr F’s dismissal from duties, was the source of controversy in the wake of the Four Corners report Unholy Silence in which Cardinal George Pell gave an account of the meeting which seemed at variance with the recollection of one of its attendees.
In last Sunday’s statement, Bishop Fisher said it was a time of soul-searching for all the Faithful and called all Catholics in the diocese to prayer and penance for the purification of the Church from all sin and for the victims of such grave misconduct.
It was a also a trying time for priests, Bishop Fisher said, who needed prayers and support more than ever.
“I urge you, my dear people, to love and to support your priests, the vast majority of whom are dedicated men, loyal to their mission as priests, and do not deserve to be tarnished by association with the perpetrators of these crimes.”
Bishop Fisher said the same reading from Jeremiah, which preached “doom” for wayward shepherds, also foretold of “a virtuous descendant of David who will be the Good Shepherd for us”.
“(Jeremiah) also promises that God will raise up other shepherds after the heart of that Good Shepherd, shepherds who will care for us and whom none need fear.
“Sure enough, in St Mark’s Gospel, we see the advent of that Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, who takes pity on a crowd who were ‘like sheep without a shepherd’ (Mk 6:34).
“As he was the model for his apostles, so he is the model for all true pastors. We turn to him in prayer today.”
Last week, New South Wales Police announced they would also be investigating the events surrounding Fr F, forming special Strike Force Glenroe.