Suspected abusers allowed to continue priestly duties

THE Catholic Church in Australia has come under fire after it emerged two Irish priests accused of paedophilia were able to continue to perform church-related duties, including working in a primary school.

The Church found Fr Padraic Maye guilty of molesting two sisters in the 1980s and of raping a woman in the 1970s.

According to the Age newspaper, at the end of 2005 the Church forced the Melbourne- based priest to retire early “and removed his ‘canonical faculties’ so that he could not act publicly as a priest, the most serious church penalty apart from defrocking.”