Accused priests given unique right of appeal
By Simon Caldwell
20 June 2008

Priests who say they have been wrongly accused of child abuse will soon be allowed a right of appeal against any alleged mistreatment by their bishops. The Church in England and Wales will introduce review panels from September to examine complaints made by priests who insist they are innocent but feel they have been sacrificed to save the reputations of their superiors.

The measure was recommended after a review of child protection procedures last year but its introduction was announced at a press conference in London last week.

It came after the Tory peer Baroness Cumberlege said in a report that priests would avoiding working with children and young people because of the fear of being falsely accused of abuse.

Bill Kilgallon, the chairman of the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission, which oversees child protection in the Catholic Church in England and Wales, told reporters that it was widely felt that "another step in the process would improve the justice of it to all parties".

"We want to feel that the systems dealing with abuse are robust as possible," he said. "We want a system that is thorough in investigations and fair to all parties.

"It will give confidence to people who use it, or who are involved in it, and will be an improvement to the system," he added.

Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Birmingham said the review panels presented "an opportunity for a decision to be reviewed" in England and Wales. "At the moment the only right of appeal would be to the Holy See," he said.

The new internal panels will consist of such specialists as child protection professionals and canon lawyers. They will examine how priests should be treated on the "balance of probability that wrongdoing has been committed" after the statutory authorities and the Church has already ruled on their cases.

Any party directly involved in a complaint _- such as the priest, the alleged victim or the bishop - could apply for a panel to re-visit a case.

The move is partly a concession to the growing number of priests who believe new child protection measures are unjustly loaded against them. Many claim the procedures brought in six years ago after several high-profile clerical abuse cases treat them as if they are guilty as soon as an accusation has been received.

Often they are immediately evicted from their homes and even if the police later find there is no case to answer they can spend years unable to practise their ministry while undergoing a series of psychological risk assessments.

Last year the first five-yearly review of the Church's children protection procedures concluded that the "persistent and tenacious" fear of malicious allegations among the clergy required attention.

"Addressing this concern through the introduction of a transparent and fair process that complies with canon law and with natural justice, and which deals with the accused with respect, is a matter of some urgency if priests are not to shun working with children and young people altogether as a way of protecting themselves," said the report by the Cumberlege Commission, called Safeguarding With Confidence.

The report advised the Church to ensure that the child protection guidelines conformed to canon law by applying to the Holy See for a recognition.

A working party set up by the bishops to achieve this is expected to have completed its work by 2010.

Figures released last week by the Catholic Office for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults reveal that in 2007 police investigated 46 allegations of sexual, physical and "emotional" abuse against priests, religious and lay volunteers, which resulted in one criminal conviction.

Thirty-three allegations - 75 per cent of the total - resulted in no further action by police, while seven are still under investigation. One case is waiting to go to trial.

All but 10 of the allegations were historic and 40 per cent originated from "third parties" rather than the alleged victim.

The figures are generally consistent with the number of allegations against the 12,000 priests and religious of England and Wales in 2006.

Archbishop Nichols, the outgoing chairman of COPCA, said that the child protection procedures in the Church were among the most stringent in the country. The Church was the fourth most frequent user of the Criminal Records Bureau and was advising the Government on good practice.

"This is a measure of the progress we have made over the last seven years," he said. "We are now a model of good practice."

He added: "I have great confidence that people in church congregations are properly and intelligently aware of the need to be vigilant and sensible but not neurotic."