The Catholic Church says its response to cases of child sex abuse should be compassionate, that abusers should be brought to justice and that concealing the truth is unjust to victims.

But does it follow those principles?

Coming up, Four Corners reporter Geoff Thompson investigates a shocking case of abuse involving many children, committed over several years. The abuse in itself is horrifying, the impact on the victims devastating, but perhaps the most alarming revelation is the fact that the Church turned a blind eye to the priest's crimes. Four Corners asks why, despite clear evidence of abuse, the Church allowed him to move from parish to parish, apparently without alerting the police. The program reveals that even now the Church will not admit the full extent of what it knew about the priest's activities.

The program also tells the story of the young men and their families, whose lives were devastated by the abuse. And details how the crimes committed led to the early death of several victims.

"It would have been no different if he had taken a gun and shot him, it just took longer." Relative of an abused child

From extensive research it's now clear that child sex abuse victims are more likely to take their own lives, are more prone to drug abuse and the possibility of early death. It's also true that the torment for an abused child is made worse when the abuser is not brought to justice.

In Victoria the Government is holding a joint party inquiry into the way religious and other non-government organisations respond to sex abuse cases. The Government was pressured into holding the inquiry after the release of a police report that criticised the Catholic Church's handling of abuse issues. The confidential police report revealed that the Church had known about a shockingly high rate of suicides and premature deaths but had "chosen to remain silent".

There is now a growing demand for the Federal Government to hold a national inquiry to assess the true extent of sexual abuse by all church groups and to assess the programs that have been put in place to assist victims and deliver them compensation.

"Unholy Silence", reported by Geoff Thompson and presented by Kerry O'Brien, goes to air on Monday 2nd July at 8.30pm on ABC1. It is repeated on Tuesday 3rd July at 11.35pm. It can also be seen on ABC News 24 at 8.00pm on Saturday, ABC iview and at abc.net.au/4corners.

Transcript

UNHOLY SILENCE - Monday 2nd July 2012

CLAIRE JURD, DAMIAN'S MOTHER: He was doing altar boy service, and he was loving it - he talked about wanting to be a priest himself...

KERRY O'BRIEN, PRESENTER: But by age 28, he was dead - a victim of sexual abuse by a Catholic priest.

PETER JURD, DAMIAN'S BROTHER: It would have been no different if he had taken a gun and shot him, it just took longer.

KERRY O'BRIEN: But why has this man not been brought to justice?

MAX JURD, DAMIAN'S RATHER: It's not right for him just to be carrying on as an ordinary human being.

KERRY O'BRIEN: The priest, the altar boy and the cover-up - one scandal amongst many. Welcome to Four Corners. Sadly, in the past 20 years or so, there have been too many such scandals involving Catholic clergy and innocent, vulnerable victims in various parts of the world: America, Ireland and Australia in particular. So you might assume the story we're about to tell is just another one to add to the list. But believe me, this one is a shocker.

It focuses mainly on the sexual abuse of children in Victoria and New South Wales in the 70s and 80s; and on the failure of the Church at very senior levels, right up to the present day, to deal adequately with allegations of serious and predatory crimes, including the apparent failure to alert police. In this context, it's worth noting that just over a week ago in America, a Catholic monsignor was convicted for covering up child sexual abuse within the Church, and now faces up to seven years jail.

There are two aspects to consider with child abuse: the immediate impact on the victim, and incalculable long-term cost. And evidence is growing, not only of lives damaged, but in a staggering number of cases, of suicides that have been linked back to childhood abuse. The Catholic Church says its response to cases of child sexual abuse should be compassionate, that abusers should be brought to justice, and that concealing the truth is unjust to victims. Tonight's story from Geoff Thompson suggests otherwise.

GEOFF THOMPSON, REPORTER: Catholicism came to Ballarat with the Gold Rush in the 1850s. It remains the most popular religion in this inland Victorian city. But for many men here, their faith in the Church has been irreparably broken. On a recent cold and wet winter's night in Ballarat, an unusual school reunion was held.

STEPHEN WOODS, "SURVIVOR": Whether it be suicide or whether it be through stress related or... illnesses, things like that, premature deaths would be, normal.

GEOFF THOMPSON: They call themselves "the survivors". They share not stories of schoolyard fun, but anecdotes of horror.

ANDREW COLLINS, "SURVIVOR": It's affected my life greatly. I've tried to kill myself three times.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Four paedophile priests and brothers have been convicted of sexually assaulting dozens of young boys at just two schools in Ballarat in the 1970s - St Alipius and St Patricks. The toll has been particularly devastating for Rob Walsh - he's lost two brothers and a cousin.

ROB WALSH, "SURVIVOR": Three suicides, me and my family. There's another five suicides in my class. You know, I can sit down and name nine suicide victims that I know personally.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Police are now investigating a possible link between child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy and at least 40 suicides in Victoria.

Another former student of St Pats in Ballarat, is Cardinal George Pell.

CARDINAL GEORGE PELL, ARCHBISHOP OF SYDNEY: Whatever the facts are, we have to face up to them; my sympathy to the families of those who have gone this way, that is a terrible, terrible thing.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Cardinal Pell spoke to us from Rome via speakerphone.

Australia's most senior Catholic acknowledges mistakes were made in the past but insists the Church has changed its ways.

CARDINAL GEORGE PELL: We set up the Melbourne Response and the Towards Healing Response, and I think when the provisions in those Responses are followed, I think they're... they're quite adequate. I think we a... basically, apart from individual lapses, we have an adequate story to tell in the way we've helped victims.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Four Corners has spoken to many people who have gone through the Church 's processes and say the experience was anything but adequate. Sixteen years after Towards Healing and the Melbourne Response were introduced, there's a groundswell of anger over the Church 's handling of sex abuse. Victims are dying before their time and some paedophile priests still avoid conviction because the Church covers up their crimes.

In the early 1980s, in the NSW country town of Moree, the Catholic community was trusting and close.

MARK BOUGHTON, FORMER ALTAR BOY: Very tight-knit. Everyone knew everyone, helped everyone. My grandparents were always good Catholics, went to church Saturday and Sunday, went to all the rosaries and they used to take us as kids and so we were in a very Catholic upbringing family

GEOFF THOMPSON: This photo, was taken when Mark Boughton was just 11. It shows Moree's altar boys with the then Bishop of Armidale and the two parish priests - one, who for legal reasons, we'll call Father F. What it disguises is a shocking secret - kept by some for thirty years.

MARK BOUGHTON: I think he asked me if I'd like to stay at the Presbytery. I thought, well it's no harm, so he went and asked my Mum and Dad, and Mum sort of said, "Well we think you're in good hands," so stayed there.

GEOFF THOMPSON: One of Mark Boughton's childhood friends was another of the altar boys, Damian Jurd.

CLAIRE JURD: You wouldn't think twice about not letting your son go with a priest. I trusted them, I trusted them to do that.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Claire Jurd is Damian's mother

CLAIRE JURD: He was doing altar boy service, and he was loving it; he talked about wanting to be a priest himself and Father wanted to take him to Narrabri to do altar boy service because one of the priests was going away, so he took him.

MAX JURD: Being an altar boy, you know, he'd get up and early of a morning and, you know, get ready and go off to... to church and that, then he gradually got, you know, that he wouldn't... we had terrible trouble getting him to go to church with us, and his behaviour gradually, you know, went from being a perfect child to a real villain.

PETER JURD: He was... before... before the abuse, um, he was just your average annoying little brother. Um.

GEOFF THOMPSON: From the day Damian Jurd went away to Narrabri with Father F, he became increasingly estranged from his family - eventually running away from home. It was four years before the Jurd's learnt what went wrong: Damian claimed he was sexually abused by Father F.

CLAIRE JURD: Disbelief. I couldn't believe what had happened, but there was a lot of relief to have answers to his behaviour, to know something had happened to him.

GEOFF THOMPSON: On the drive to Narrabri in 1983, Damian said Father F reached across and fondled his genitals and asked him to open his pants. The fondling continued until they arrived at the presbytery next to St Francis Xavier church in Narrabri. Inside, Damian alleged that Father F took him to an upstairs room and sodomised him three times.

CLAIRE JURD: Damian said, "I want to watch Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", and so he let him go after he had been abusing him for some time. He didn't tell me much more after that.

GEOFF THOMPSON: In 1987 when Damian's father found out he went looking for other victims to support his son. He confronted former altar boy Mark Boughton.

MARK BOUGHTON: Max came into the diesel service and ranting and raving and yelling out for me, and I was in the pump room.

MAX JURD: He'd left school. He was a, an apprentice mechanic and I went to the... where he was employed, like.

MARK BOUGHTON: Max was coming in and asked, "Oh did so and so touch you" and this and that, and I've just denied it and gone, "No, no, no."

MAX JURD: He sort of was very evasive. He didn't want to... to get involved in it at all. Yeah, yeah - he just said he, you know, he didn't know anything, you know. So... that, I came to a dead end there.

MARK BOUGHTON: I'm afraid to say that I lied to him cause I was scared. I didn't know... didn't know what to do, but I just kept a big secret from him.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Police arrested Father F in August 1987, for abuse of Damian Jurd. The priest's identity was suppressed. He was charged with five counts of indecent assault and six of sexual intercourse without consent. It went to a committal hearing in 1988.

Damian Jurd's allegations of sexual abuse ended up here at Narrabri courthouse, where a magistrate was asked to weigh the testimony of a wayward youth against that of a Catholic priest.

Church authorities did not approach other altar boys they knew could have supported Damian's case. Instead, no expense was spared defending the accused priest. The Church engaged arguably Australia's top Queens Counsel at the time, Chester Porter, to represent Father F in this country courthouse.

Damian Jurd, now aged 15 and with a criminal record, offered his testimony alone.

DAMIAN JURD (voiceover): I said "Stop it" and he asked "Why?" He kept doing it... He started groaning and he rolled onto his side and he started touching himself... I just buried my head in the pillow, buried my face in the pillow and cried.

GEOFF THOMPSON: A jury would never hear Damian's evidence - the magistrate decided it would be rejected when set against the word of Father F.

MAGISTRATE (voiceover): He has no previous convictions and he is a Catholic priest - and obviously Damian must come out second best there.

CLAIRE JURD: Knowing how he felt after the committal hearing and not seeing justice, I think he just gave up and thought, well what's the use. So that was devastating for him to have to go through all that just for nothing, and to see that Father got away with it.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Damian's life went into freefall, but he had two children. Later he became addicted to heroin.

PETER JURD: With something like that. I mean, apart from Damian and what happened and what it um... it caused to happen to him, it affects the whole family as well in a considerable way.

GEOFF THOMPSON: For thirty years Mark Boughton has regretted not telling Damian's father the truth when he was confronted at work. This is the first time he tells of a night he spent at the presbytery with Father F.

MARK BOUGHTON: I've woken up and I could feel my head moving, and I've noticed I had something in my mouth which was... yeah... not, not very nice. By that stage it... it must have been just at the end when he'd done... done the thing, and... yeah I sort of had to lay there and be very still and just spit in horror, I suppose. It just, yeah. After that, yeah, yeah... it wasn't very... mmm. It's just not a good thing.

GEOFF THOMPSON: But it's not for Mark Boughton to be burdened by guilt. That weight belongs on the Catholic Church .

Through extensive interviews with former altar boys and their families, Four Corners has established that before Damian Jurd's court case the Catholic Church was aware of allegations that Father F had abused other altar boys.

FATHER OF ABUSE VICTIM: You know, the Church knew about it, they definitely knew and they've written to me saying that they knew about it in 1983.

GEOFF THOMPSON: This parent was told by his son that Father F had abused him in the early 1980s. He's asked us not to broadcast his name.

FATHER OF ABUSE VICTIM: He was, inappropriately touched and he was in a state of horror still the day after, because he become very frightened because the person he was with had shown him a gun that he kept in the back of the car. So he lived with that for a... for a day; he managed to fight him off at the time and then they went and did the Mass and came back to town, and he told us. I immediately went to the presbytery, spoke to Monsignor Frank Ryan - who was the Parish Priest - told him what had happened and how I felt that it'd be best if he was kept away from our children and so that it didn't happen again.

GEOFF THOMPSON: That was in 1983, and there are letters confirming the Church was told of the alleged abuse.

FATHER OF ABUSE VICTIM: What really jumped out to me about this letter was that it made references to the circumstances known to us in 1983.

GEOFF THOMPSON: And what's that referring to?

FATHER OF ABUSE VICTIM: That's referring to the inappropriate touching of my boy and one of his friends, and so they were fully aware of it at that time.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Despite that knowledge, the Church's support for Father F continued. In 1989, the year after his acquittal, Father F was transferred to another Parish in the Western Sydney Diocese of Parramatta. Here, Father F found another unsuspecting congregation - and more altar boys.

RENAE POWELL, DANIEL'S MOTHER: He cultivated my friendship. He came into my home, had dinner with us, socialised with us, and he was grooming Daniel as an altar boy...

GEOFF THOMPSON: Renae Powell has asked not to show her face.

(to Renae Powell) Did you trust him?

RENAE POWELL: Yes. I have grown up in Catholic surroundings. I went to Catholic schools, trained in a Catholic hospital, went to a Catholic University. Um... I... yeah, I was trained to trust priests.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Renae's son Daniel had a brutal start in life. He was just 10 years old in 1989 when he came home to find his alcoholic father hanging from a tree. By age 11 he was one of a group of boys abused on canoeing trips by a lay teacher at Parramatta Marist High School. Renae hoped Father F might offer her son some solace.

RENAE POWELL: Obviously finding myself alone and being a female, I was very, very happy to find male role models for Daniel. He was one of them.

GEOFF THOMPSON: So you were vulnerable and Daniel was vulnerable as well . . .

RENAE POWELL: That's right, exactly. I think Daniel saw him as a father figure - but certainly a father who let him get away things that he wouldn't normally have gotten away with if he were just with me.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Father F would take Daniel to Western Sydney's Rookwood cemetery and give him driving lessons. In his company the eleven year old was allowed to drink and smoke and to shoot Father F's firearms. The Priest even bought him a rifle. But along the way, Daniel would later allege he was abused - a secret he kept for a decade.

RENAE POWELL: Daniel's life started spiralling downwards. He started becoming very aggressive, very angry, started using drugs.

GEOFF THOMPSON: As Daniel's life descended into a haze of alcohol and drugs, Father F's days on the loose appeared to be numbered as more complaints surfaced.

Father Kevin Lee is a controversial figure in the Catholic Church . He recently revealed he's been secretly married for the past year. But he also replaced Father F at the Parramatta parish, and says the then-Bishop was made aware of allegations Father F was abusing boys there too.

KEVIN LEE, PRIEST: Sister Kathleen was the parish nun who found Father in the sacristy with one boy on his own and he... she walked in and felt it looked inappropriate what she saw, and she's, "What's going on?" and he said, "Oh we're just having altar boy training," and she said, "I don't think now's the time to be doing it - back to school, young fellow!"

GEOFF THOMPSON: Kevin Lee says that incident was reported to superiors. A church investigation was finally ordered. On the 3rd of September 1992 Father F was called to a meeting at St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney. What happened at the meeting is crucial to understanding the major flaws in the way the Catholic Church deals in-house with allegations of sexual abuse. The meeting with Father F was presided over by three senior Catholic priests - Father Brian Lucas, Father Wayne Peters and Father John Usher.

CARDINAL GEORGE PELL: The file note of that meeting shows... does not show that he made any admission - and that is the recollection of the three priests who were actually at that. They were dissatisfied with his credibility; they thought he represented some sort of danger for the future, and although he'd made no admissions to them, they suggested to the Bishop who followed it that he should be stood down.

GEOFF THOMPSON: As a result of this investigation the Church banned Father F from conducting Mass.

CARDINAL GEORGE PELL: In other words, he couldn't say Mass, he couldn't hear confessions, he couldn't give counselling, he was forbidden from any public activity - even, for example, a home Mass, he was forbidden from all those activities, I gather, from 1992.

GEOFF THOMPSON: But Kevin Lee claims that the senior priest at the Parramatta parish told him in 1994 that Father F continued to be paid to perform Mass in private homes.

KEVIN LEE: He said well the poor fellow's now without a parish, I'm giving him money so that he can celebrate the Mass, Mass stipends. I said, "Where's he celebrating Mass?" He said, "Well he's living in the home of one of our parishioners here" - with young boys and in that family.

GEOFF THOMPSON: By the late 1990s, Daniel Powell was back in contact with Father F. Now nineteen he had started ringing the priest demanding money as compensation for the abuse of him as a child. Father F dramatically counter-attacked by having Daniel Powell arrested for extortion in a police sting at McDonalds in Bankstown. Because Father F was the victim of an alleged extortion, he successfully had his name suppressed again.

JONATHAN DAVIS, DANIEL POWELL'S LAWYER: It was an instance where you felt an individual who had been in fact the victim of a very serious crime had had the tables turned upon him.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Jonathan Davis was Daniel's solicitor in the extortion trial. He remembers clearly the day in 2004 when Daniel's statement to police was read out in Parramatta district court.

DANIEL POWELL (voiceover): After performing oral sex on me, he would lie on top of me kissing me and holding me, as he did many other times.

JONATHAN DAVIS: Daniel was very visibly upset, as you would expect.

DANIEL POWELL (voiceover): For the seemingly small amount of time that I would have to just imagine I was elsewhere, I received rewards that no other could offer me.

JONATHAN DAVIS: You were almost there in your mind reliving with him the experiences that he was forced to suffer and endure. It was a very draining session in court.

GEOFF THOMPSON: But it was a damning admission by Father F that brought the court to a standstill and saw Daniel Powell walk away a free man. Under cross-examination, Father F was asked about the meeting he had with the three priests on the 3rd of September 1992.

LAWYER (voiceover): I suggest to you that at that meeting you made certain admissions to those priests that you had had oral sex with young boys?

FATHER F (voiceover): Yes.

LAWYER (voiceover): And that's the reason why they won't let you carry out your duties as a priest, isn't it?

FATHER F (voiceover): That's part of it, yes.

JONATHAN DAVIS: I just always remember the silence that was so pervasive after that admission in court. You know, you could have heard a pin drop. The lack of contrition or remorse that came along with that admission - you could not feel anything but disgust, I suppose, at he and what he had done.

GEOFF THOMPSON: So, let's be perfectly clear. Under oath, in this court of law, Father F admitted to having oral sex with young boys. What's more, he confirmed he made that admission at that 1992 meeting with three senior priests - including Father Brian Lucas who is the current General Secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference. Now somewhat strangely, Australia's most senior Catholic, speaking on behalf of Brian Lucas, says he does not believe that admission was made.

CARDINAL GEORGE PELL: I certainly didn't know that; I'm surprised at that. I would take the word of three priests against that allegation. I think it's fair enough for Brian Lucas, as one of those three priests, to have me speak for him - I've reported what the file note says and what he said about what happened at that particular meeting.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Since interviewing Cardinal Pell, Four Corners has obtained a report of that meeting - a copy of which is contained in the court file of Daniel Powell's extortion case. It tells a very different story.

It's addressed to the then-Bishop of Armidale and written by one of three priests present at the meeting - Father Wayne Peters - who is now Vicar General - that's second in charge - of the Armidale Diocese. His report clearly states that Father F did make admissions of criminal sexual assault. It says that Father F:

EXCERPT FROM REPORT (voiceover): ...admitted that there had been five boys around the age of 10 and 11 that he had sexually interfered with in varying degrees in the years approximately 1982 to 1984 while he was the assistant priest at Moree.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Regarding two of the boys, the report says that Father F:

EXCERPT FROM REPORT (voiceover): ...admitted that over a period of approximately twelve months he fondled the genitals of each of these boys and, to quote, "sucked off their dicks". This was done on about a monthly basis over a period of twelve months.

GEOFF THOMPSON: The report expresses no concern for the victims' welfare, or suggest that police should be informed of what could only be regarded as criminal acts. Instead it says:

EXCERPT FROM REPORT (voiceover): ...the possibility always remains that one or some of the boys involved may bring criminal charges against Father F, with subsequent grave harm to the priesthood and the Church.

GEOFF THOMPSON: The acts admitted to by Father F are serious criminal offences, and in NSW at least since 1990 it has been against the law to conceal such serious offences in some circumstances. In other words - if the admissions were made as reported and not referred to the police - it raises the question of whether the law was broken.

Four Corners asked Father Brian Lucas and Father John Usher directly whether Father F made any admissions they thought should be disclosed to police. Both of them say he didn't. Father Wayne Peters has confirmed to us that he did send a report of the meeting to the then-Bishop of Armidale. He said Father F did make admissions but described them as only "instances of misconduct" which would not "incriminate him".

It was another 13 years after that 1992 meeting before Father F was formally sacked from the priesthood in 2005.

Daniel Powell still felt he had no justice - by now it was a word he had tattooed on his wrist. His trust in the police destroyed, Daniel refused to cooperate with attempts to further investigate the former priest. Father F remained a free man.

JONATHAN DAVIS: It was only really as it turned out a stage in a... in a very tragic story. Ultimately he won the battle but lost the war, you might say.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Daniel Powell pursued a civil case against the Church and received $135,000 in compensation in 2006 for Father's F's abuse. Damian Jurd had also settled with the Church in 1998, receiving $175,000. But the money did not stop the pain. By the age of 28, both men were dead. Daniel hanged himself in 2007. Damian was found unconscious - and died in hospital on New Years Day 2001.

PETER JURD: It would have been no different if he had taken a gun and shot him, it just took longer. But it's not just Damian; like, so many other people are affected by... and it's the same circumstance. If somebody had have gone out and done that... killed, been responsible for the deaths and suicides, um, of that amount of people, you know, I mean it'd be a huge... like be front paper news or things, but because this was a Catholic Priest and because it was brushed under the table, he's still out there - he's never been brought to justice.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Damian's brother Peter is in his fourth year of studying law at the University of New England. He hopes the degree will help him find justice for his little brother. Uncomfortably, this same city in the NSW northern tablelands is also home to his brother's abuser. He's no longer a priest, but Father F has forged a new identity as a prominent figure in the Armidale community. He's a regular contributor to local newspapers, and employed to enter family homes gathering information for a survey funded by the Federal Government.

MAX JURD: It's not right for him just to be carrying on as an ordinary human being.

GEOFF THOMPSON: What would you like to see happen to him?

MAX JURD: Well I'd like to see justice done. I'd ra... like to see him made accountable for his actions.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Would it make things easier for you now, if that happened?

MAX JURD: Yes it certainly would.

PETER JURD: It's affected so many people, and for it not to have been brought to justice is, like... it's staggering to me. I just I think about it almost every day, the damage it's affected my family, and then it's the, the other people. So many people's lives are affected by this guy. And for nobody to have taken notice of what's happened, it's, I just... somebody's really not doing their job properly.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Tragically, Father F could have been brought to justice back in 1992 if another of Father F's admissions had been referred to police. Referring to Damian Jurd, Father F:

EXCERPT FROM REPORT (voiceover): ...did admit that he fondled the boy's genitals during a car trip from Moree to Narrabri.

GEOFF THOMPSON: That alone constituted a serious criminal offence in 1983. And in 1992 it should have been referred to the police.

The city of Rome is Catholicism's capital, home to the Vatican and the Holy See. But it is also a safe harbour for another Catholic priest accused of child sex abuse in Australia. He is Father Julian Fox, and still works as a priest in this sprawling Roman headquarters of the Salesians of Don Bosco - a religious order dedicated to charity towards the young.

(to Patrick Parkinson) Is it your assessment that he's being protected by the Vatican?

PATRICK PARKINSON, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY LAW SCHOOL: I won't comment.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Sydney University Law Professor Patrick Parkinson has twice reviewed and updated the protocols of the Catholic Church's Towards Healing process for dealing with sexual abuse. He's also very critical of the Salesians, and the order's handling of abuse allegations against priests like Julian Fox.

PATRICK PARKINSON: At the time that the allegations were first made, as I understand this he was overseas, and in my view - given that there was an active police involvement at the time - he should have been ordered to return to Australia to submit to a police investigation and to face his accusers.

MARGARET QUILLIGAN, LUKE'S MOTHER: If he hadn't been raped hopefully he would never have gone on heroin which caused his death.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Margaret Quilligan's son Luke was a student of Rupertswood Salesian College in Sunbury Victoria in the 1970s, when it was a boarding school. It's here he claimed he was raped by Father Fox, who would become a leader of the Salesians in Australia before moving to Rome.

MARGARET QUILLIGAN: The first time he got sent to Father Fox he went to his office and Father Fox told him to pull down his pants and his underpants, and to bend over a desk, and he thought he was going to get the strap or the cane on his bare backside, but instead of that he got a penis right up his backside. And after that he knew that every time he went to Father Fox that that's what was going to happen to him, but he never told us.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Julian Fox has always denied raping young Luke Quilligan, but through its Towards Healing process, the Church settled with Luke anyway in 2000. It gave him, a known heroin addict, $36,000. He went on a drug-binge and eventually died of liver failure in 2005.

MARGARET QUILLIGAN: He told me that he and his wife went off and had the most marvellous heroin holiday, and when the money ran out so did she. Now Fox to this day is in Rome. He won't come back because he knows he'll be picked up by the police. Why hasn't he been defrocked, at the very least?

GEOFF THOMPSON: Julian Fox is not the only Salesian priest accused of sexual abuse at Rupertswood.

MIKE SCULL, ABUSE VICTIM: I can't even recall now how many times it happened, but he wrecked me really, 'cause it's a sort of affected me all my life to some degree.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Mike Scull says he was repeatedly abused by Father John Ayres while at the school.

(to Mike Scull) He raped you?

MIKE SCULL: Yes, yeah, yep. It wasn't with his... yeah, he raped me. A few times he pinned me to the bed...

GEOFF THOMPSON: Mike Scull took his allegation to the Church through its Towards Healing process. He says the Church told him Father Ayres was in Samoa - and could not be questioned by police.

MIKE SCULL: I was running late for my fifth mediation, and I rang and told them that I'm running late and I said, "Well look, if he's goin' to a meeting about Ayers, please stop him", and she said "Oh, Father Ayers, well do you want to talk to Ayers? I can see him in the garden here." I explo... I questioned her for a moment because I couldn't believe it, and then I established, yes, he was there and he'd been, he'd been there.

GEOFF THOMPSON: So you were going to a Towards Healing meeting to talk about bringing Father Ayres back from Samoa, and he was in Australia with the Salesians the whole time?

MIKE SCULL: Yeah, all the time. Just lies, from start to finish. How can you deal with that? You just can't.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Father Ayres avoided ever facing Mike Scull in court - he died a few months ago. But Mike Scull did get a $45,000 pay out from Towards Healing.

MIKE SCULL: The money at the end was just an insult. You've got a paedophile that you know about, you do something about it. It doesn't matter who you are. Someone's gotta protect kids, someone's got to. It's not these blokes, they don't care. It's very simple.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Julian Fox has evaded Luke Quilligan by staying overseas and outliving him.

JOHN QUILLIGAN, LUKE'S BROTHER: If a paedophile's recognised and he won't face the truth, there's something to hide. If they come out and face the truth and they prove themselves innocent, well and good. We can't hang somebody's who's innocent, but these guys won't even come and tell the truth and face the truth. There's people lining up. Something's wrong.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Police are currently investigating more allegations against Julian Fox.

In an account remarkably similar to Luke Quilligan's, Brian Stephenson alleges he was also raped over Julian Fox's desk while a student at Rupertswood in 1980.

BRIAN STEPHENSON, ABUSE VICTIM: Father Fox called me in, said to me, "Oh you know the story." So, dropped me daks, same old, same old - like you'd just dropped daks and he'd belt you with the pool cue. Next thing I know his penis was in my arse. I... I don't really know how else to put it. There was... I didn't have the faintest idea what was going on. I just, as I say, I just sort of assumed in me head, okay, this is the, this is the next level of punishment.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Julian Fox firmly denies that allegation.

PATRICK PARKINSON: Imagine that an allegation was made against a diplomat of the Australian Government in Fiji, in Thailand wherever. My expectation is that that diplomat would be ordered to return to Australia. He would be suspended while that investigation took place; the police would be called in and that he would not be allowed to return to diplomatic duties unless and until he was cleared of those allegations. That is a reasonable expectation the Australian people would have of the Australian Government.

GEOFF THOMPSON: A confidential letter obtained by Four Corners suggests that the power of Rome has already overruled attempts by Australia's Salesian leaders to bring Father Fox home. Written by the former head of the Salesians in Australia, Father Ian Murdoch, to his boss in Rome, it shows the order thought just moving Julian Fox elsewhere was a solution to the abuse allegations.

LETTER FROM IAN MURDOCH (voiceover): Unexpectedly, I was asked whether it would be an acceptable solution to transfer Father Julian Fox to another province. I regarded this as totally unacceptable.

GEOFF THOMPSON: He goes on to say that:

LETER FROM IAN MURDOCH (voiceover): ...the only thing that can ever dispel these allegations is to be prepared to face his accusers and maintain his innocence, as Archbishop, now Cardinal, Pell had done here in Australia.

GEOFF THOMPSON: In the past Cardinal Pell himself has faced allegations of sexual abuse, which were not upheld by a church investigation. He also says Julian Fox should face his accusers.

CARDINAL GEORGE PELL: I don't know his story, I don't know his side of the story, but if there's credible evidence against a Church figure, that person should return to face the music.

GEOFF THOMPSON: As you've seen tonight, the cost of accused priests not facing the music is far too great. The link between child sex abuse and premature death is only just beginning to be understood.

PETER JURD: It not only affected Damian, now it's affecting his children. Damian was a great dad, loved them to death but I suppose he... he never quite got over, that feeling of, of not being good enough. He had a photo of Roman and Claire-Anne next to him.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Damian Jurd's children Roman and Claire-Anne live with their grandparents. Claire-Anne, is now 19 and struggles with depression. Speaking with her, it's difficult not to conclude that the effects of abuse on Damian's life are generational.

CLAIRE-ANNE JURD, DAMIAN'S DAUGHTER: I just feel like there's just so many questions I have for him if he was here.

GEOFF THOMPSON: What would you say to him?

CLAIRE-ANNE JURD: I'd ask him if he was proud of me.

GEOFF THOMPSON: It was only last year that Claire-Anne learnt what Father F did to her dad.

CLAIRE-ANNE JURD: I've got this thing in the back of my hand saying "Just give up", 'cause he did.

I go to sleep at night and I think about what he would be like if it didn't happen to him; what I would be like if it didn't happen to him. I've... he was sad and he was hurting all the time and that... when I describe myself, I'm sad and I hurt all the time, but if that didn't happen to him, what kind of personality I would have... whether I would, you know, be here at all.

KERRY O'BRIEN: How do you begin to count the cost - not just of the abuse, but an institutional cover-up and of justice denied. There have been many government enquiries at both state and federal level over the years, but a Parliamentary Inquiry in Victoria right now is looking specifically at how religious institutions - and NGOs, for that matter - respond to cases of sexual abuse. Perhaps the inquiry should be national. Next week on Four Corners, an investigation into the work practises of Australia's pearling industry, with lives being put at risk. Until then, good night.

End of transcript

Background Information

PROGRAM UPDATES

Report into child abuse in the Catholic Church | Catholic Diocese of Parramatta | Jan 2013 - Former Federal Court Judge, the Hon Antony Whitlam QC, was commissioned to conduct an independent inquiry into processes related to the management of a former priest following allegations he had committed acts of child sexual abuse. Read more about the inquiry or download the report here.

Sexual Abuse: The Response of the Archdiocese of Sydney | The Catholic Weekly | 20 Aug 2012 - Read this full statement released by the Archdiocese of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, on the question of how the Church today responds to claims of sexual abuse.

Opinion: Unholy silence: a royal commission is needed | ABC The Drum | 4 Jul 2012 - The ABC Four Corner's report Unholy Silence exposed yet again terrible ways the Catholic Church covers up clergy sex crimes. The courage of survivors, who told their painful stories, moved viewers to cry and become angry. So what will change?

Audio: Renewed calls for Royal Commission into church sex abuse | AM | 4 Jul 2012 - The Catholic Church has reopened inquiries into what has been claimed as a botched investigation into allegations of sexual abuse of boys by a priest in the 1980s.

Church hierarchy backtracks on abuse claims | ABC News | 4 Jul 2012 - After initially backing three priests accused of covering up the sexual abuse of altar boys in New South Wales, the Catholic Church has now issued a statement saying it has begun fresh inquiries.

Disgraced priest lives comfortably among us | The Armidale Express | 4 Jul 2012 - A shocking exposaired by the ABC's Four Corners on Monday night dropped a prominent Armidale resident into the spotlight of allegations about a child sexual abuse cover-up within the Catholic Church.

Archdiocese of Sydney investigating panel meeting | Cath News | 3 Jul 2012 - The Archdiocese of Sydney is investigating the 1992 meeting which involved two Sydney priests who attended as members of a national panel that removed a fellow priest from public ministry, the Archdiocese said in a statement. Download the statement here.

Priests failed to pass on sexual assault admission to police | ABC News | 3 Jul 2012 - The Roman Catholic Church is again embroiled in claims of a cover-up over its handling of child sexual assault allegations involving priests. The ABC's Four Corners program has revealed the church failed to pass on abuse admissions by a priest to police.

Disgraced priest 'living a normal life' | Herald Sun | 3 Jul 2012 -A Catholic priest sacked by the church after serious sexual abuse allegations is living in Armidale in NSW where he has become a prominent citizen, according to ABC TV's Four Corners program.

Priest's abuse concealed | The Australian | 3 Jul 2012 - Three senior Catholic clerics who investigated alleged sexual abuse may have covered up a priest's confessions that he assaulted five young altar boys in the 1980s, some of whom later committed suicide.

LETTERS AND CORRESPONDENCE

Letter to the Bishop of Armidale re Father F | Sept 1992 - On the 3rd of September 1992 Father F was called to a meeting at St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney to deal with allegations of sexual abuse. The meeting was presided over by three senior Catholic priests - Father Brian Lucas, Father Wayne Peters and Father John Usher. This letter, written by Father Peters, reports on Father F's admissions of sexual assault at this meeting. [PDF 1.32Mb]

Response to Four Corners re Father F | Jun 2012 - The current Bishop of Armidale, Reverend Michael Kennedy, wrote a letter to Four Corners in response to inquiries relating to Father F. Read the letter. [PDF 53Kb]

Letter from the Salesians of Don Bosco re Father Fox| Feb 2004 - Copy of a confidential letter obtained by Four Corners and written by the former head of the Salesians in Australia, Father Ian Murdoch, to his superior in Rome, regarding Father Julian Fox. [PDF 146Kb]

KEY REPORTS

Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and Other Organisations | Parliament of Victoria | 2012 - The Family and Community Development Committee was requested to inquire into, consider and report to the Parliament on the processes by which religious and other non-government organisations respond to the criminal abuse of children by personnel within their organisations. Read the Terms, Hearing Transcripts and Submissions here.

Suicide and fatal drug overdose in child sexual abuse victims: a historical cohort study | Medical Journal of Australia | 2010 - This report finds that victims of child sexual abuse are at increased risk of suicide and accidental fatal drug overdose. By Margaret C. Cutajar, and others.

The Nature and Scope of the Problem of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests and Deacons in the United States | John Jay College of Criminal Justice | 2004 - The John Jay Report was commissioned by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, and based on surveys completed by the Roman Catholic dioceses in the US. [PDF 2.18Mb]

Suicide and child abuse and neglect | Child Family Community Australia (CFCA) - Research and reports on child sexual abuse and subsequent suicidal behaviour.

SUPPORT AND ADVOCACY

Adults Surviving Child Abuse ASCA | Support Line 1300 657 380 - www.asca.org.au/

beyondblue Information Line | 1300 22 46 36 - Provides nationwide access to information, advice and referrals around depression, anxiety and related conditions. www.beyondblue.org.au/

Broken Rites Australia | 03 9457 4999 (VIC) - Support for victims of church-related sexual abuse. brokenrites.alphalink.com.au/

Child Abuse Prevention Service | 1800 688 009 - CAPS aims to improve outcomes for children by delivering family support, prevention and community education services. www.childabuseprevention.com.au/

Kids Helpline | 1800 551 800 - A free, private and confidential, telephone and online counselling service specifically for young people aged between 5 and 25. www.kidshelp.com.au/

Lifeline Crisis Support | 13 11 14 - If you need someone to talk to urgently you can call Lifeline on their 24-hour crisis support line. http://www.lifeline.org.au/

Melbourne Response | Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne - The Melbourne Response assists people who have been abused sexually, physically or emotionally. Complaints are made to and investigated by the Independent Commissioner, Mr Peter O'Callaghan QC. Free counselling and professional support for those who have been abused is available through Carelink. Contact Telephone Numbers: Independent Commissioner - (03) 9225 7979 | Carelink - (03) 9663 5744 | Archdiocese of Melbourne - (03) 9926 5677 | Towards Healing - 1800 816 030 www.cam.org.au/Melbourne-Response/Melbourne-Response

MensLine Australia | 1300 789 978 - A telephone and online support, information and referral service, helping men to deal with relationship problems in a practical and effective way. Available 24/7. www.mensline.org.au/

Narcotics Anonymous | 02 9565 1453 - www.naoz.org.au

Suicide Call Back Service | 1300 659 467 - Provides crisis counselling to people at risk of suicide, carers for someone who is suicidal and those bereaved by suicide, 24 hours per day 7 days a week across Australia. www.suicidecallbackservice.org.au/

NEWS AND UPDATES

Budget cuts will curb inquiry into child-sex abuse | The Australian | 26 Jun 2012 - Budget cuts are set to curtail public scrutiny of the Baillieu government-initiated inquiry into child-sex abuse by religious groups.

Victims to sue Catholic Church | Adelaide Now | 16 Jun 2012 - Victims of paedophile Brian Perkins are seeking millions of dollars in compensation from the Catholic Church.

Church assisting paedophile priests | The Age | 15 Jun 2012 - The archdiocese has disclosed to The Age that it is providing significant financial support to four clergy released from jail after serving sentences for child sex abuse.

One man's struggle to be delivered from evil - and indifference | The Age | 6 Jun 2012 - Melbourne's Catholic archdiocese permitted a priest charged with child sex offences to be the ''spiritual director'' to another priest accused of child molestation. The revelation is contained in confidential Catholic Church documents obtained by The Age that provide an insight into the archdiocese's handling of child sex abuse cases.

Retired priest charged over abuse scandal | ABC News |2 May 2012 - A retired Catholic priest at the centre of a child abuse scandal has been charged after turning himself in to police in Sydney's north-west.

Audio: Cardinal Pell and the church response to the sex abuse crisis | RN Religion & Ethics | 2 May 2012 - As the Victorian government prepares to begin its inquiry into sex abuse into religious, and other, organisations, there is renewed attention to how the church handles complaints, and accusations, against clergy.

Ballarat bishop, abuse survivor welcome inquiry into sexual abuse by priests | ABC Ballarat | 18 Apr 2012 - Ballarat's Catholic bishop Peter Connors, sex abuse survivor Stephen Woods and Broken Rites spokesperson Wayne Chamley discuss the State Government's announcement of a parliamentary inquiry into abuse of children by catholic priests. State Attorney General Robert Clark explains how the inquiry will work and why he thinks there is no need for a Royal Commission.

Video: Victoria announces inquiry into clergy child abuse | ABC Lateline | 17 April 2012 - The Victorian Government has announced an inquiry into criminal child abuse by members of the clergy, although victims groups want a full royal commission.

Opinion: The silence of the cloth under siege | SMH | 10 Mar 2012 - The landmark Protecting Victoria's Vulnerable Children inquiry, headed by a retired Supreme Court judge, Philip Cummins, has made powerful recommendations about Victorian churches' handling of child sex crimes.

Audio: Lawyers say Ellis defence reduces church payouts | ABC AM | 29 Sep 2011 - Lawyers for victims of sexual abuse say the Catholic Church has used a legal technicality to reduce compensation payouts to their clients.

Vatican admits failures over abuse scandal | ABC News | 4 Sep 2011 - The Vatican has acknowledged "grave failures" over the handling of a child sex abuse scandal involving priests in southern Ireland, but denied it tried to block investigations.

Church sex abuse inquiry 'not needed'| Herald Sun | 3 Aug 2011 - An inquiry into suicides among victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and brothers in Victoria would achieve little, a Catholic bishop says.

Celibacy, homosexuality not to blame for priest abuse | ABC News | 26 May 2011 - The largest ever study on the sexual abuse crisis inside the Catholic Church in the United States has found that neither homosexuality nor celibacy are to blame. The report, commissioned by America's Catholic bishops, discounts a number of theories that have been previously floated to explain abuse by priests.

Catholic apology not enough for abuse victims | ABC News | 18 Mar 2010 - An Australian victims advocacy group says an apology from the Pope and the leader of Ireland's Catholic Church will not be enough to help victims of church abuse.

Audio: What is wrong with the Catholic Church? | RN Background Briefing | 7 Mar 2010 - Not only in Australia, but around the world, the Catholic Church is rocked by news of sex abuse scandals. The vow of celibacy is often blamed, but it is more than that. The Church encourages a kind of adolescence in its priests, a co-dependency, and a terrible and immature loneliness. Reporter, Stephen Crittenden.

Victims of abuser sought | The Australian | 14 Feb 2009 - Formers students and colleagues of a Marist brother found guilty of sexually abusing children have been asked to come forward as investigations widen into the activities of the man, who taught at almost a dozen schools across NSW and Queensland.

FURTHER READING

A Pastoral Letter on Sexual Abuse by Archbishop Denis Hart, Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne | Melbourne Response

Letter of Apology from Pope Benedict XVI to Ireland's victims of sexual abuse | The Vatican | 19 Mar 2010

Stress, abuse damages childhood genes | ABC Science | 23 Feb 2009 - Childhood abuse appears to permanently change a person's response to stress, possibly making them more susceptible to suicide, new research suggests. Canadian researchers found early childhood abuse can change the expression of a gene which is important for responding to stress. The study, by Professor Michael Meaney and colleagues at McGill University, is published online today in Nature Neuroscience.

Father Klep back in Australia | The World Today | 25 Jun 2004 - A Catholic priest who has been the subject of an arrest warrant on paedophile charges for that last six yeas arrived back in Australia this morning. Father Frank Klep was yesterday expelled from Samoa after it was discovered that he had made a false declaration on an immigration form.

Ballarat's good men of the cloth | The Age | 14 Jun 2002 - The story of the gifted archbishop and the gutter lives of Ballarat's paedophile priests and brothers is a study in contrasts.

RELATED FOUR CORNERS PROGRAMS

St Ann's Secret | 22 Sep 2011 - A shocking story of sexual abuse of intellectually disabled children attending a Catholic school in Adelaide. Why did the school cover up the full extent of the abuse for 10 years, and the law fail to protect vulnerable children?