The Sydney Morning Herald
14 September 2011
Mark Metherell
Xenophon demands priest’s dismissal
Independent senator Nick Xenophon gives the Catholic Church until midday to stand down a priest accused of raping a boy over 40 years ago.
A FORMER head Catholic chaplain of the navy, Ian Dempsey, was accused in the Senate last night of the rape of a fellow seminarian 50 years ago.
The allegation by the independent senator, Nick Xenophon, came yesterday after the Catholic Church rejected the senator’s ultimatum for Monsignor Dempsey to stand down from his post as parish priest at Brighton in Adelaide or be named.
Monsignor Dempsey, 68, who was made an AO in recognition of his services to the navy’s chaplaincy, has also been Catholic vicar-general to the Adelaide archdiocese.
Accused … Monsignor Ian Dempsey, pictured during a funeral Mass in Adelaide.Photo: Bryan Charlton
The archdiocese said in a statement that it was ”shocked and dismayed that Senator Xenophon has ignored our pleadings” not to reveal the priest’s identity. ”The priest concerned has categorically denied the allegation and has been a person of good standing in the archdiocese for a very long time.”
His naming last night follows allegations by a former Catholic priest who is now world leader of a breakaway Anglican sect.
Archbishop John Hepworth says the archdiocese has failed to act on allegations he made to church authorities in 2007.
Making accusations … Archbishop John Hepworth.Senator Xenophon told the Senate last night: ”The people of the Brighton parish have the right to know that for four years allegations have been outstanding that the priest, Ian Dempsey, raped John Hepworth and that church leadership has failed to make appropriate inquiries into this matter and that church leadership had failed to stand this priest down as a matter of course while inquiries take place.
”Sexual abuse flourishes because people keep secrets. For the people of south Australia this was a secret that in good conscience I did not feel I could, or should, keep.”
Senator Xenophon said he was concerned that despite having been given a detailed statement in 2008, the Adelaide Vicar-General, Monsignor David Cappo, had said this year the investigation was still at ”a preliminary stage” because he had not lodged a formal complaint.
Under fire … Monsignor David Cappo.
Archbishop Hepworth said before the expose´ that he did not want Senator Xenophon to name the priest but instead ask for Monsignor Dempsey to be stood down while the church commissioned an inquiry by a QC.
Senator Xenophon overruled Archbishop Hepworth’s plea, saying; ”If this priest is named tonight in the Senate, the Catholic Church will only have itself to blame. We have to act in the interests of parents and children in the parish first and foremost.”
The SA senator has also called on the government to inquire into the role of Monsignor Cappo, recently appointed chairman of the new national Mental Health Commission.
Archbishop Hepworth, 67, is world primate of the 400,000member Traditional Anglican Communion sect.
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Senator names priest on ‘rape’
theage.com.au
14 September 2011
Mark Metherell
A FORMER head Catholic chaplain of the navy, Ian Dempsey, was named in the Senate last night as having allegedly raped a fellow seminarian 50 years ago.
The naming by independent senator Nick Xenophon came after the Catholic Church yesterday rejected the senator’s ultimatum that he would name Monsignor Dempsey unless he was stood down from his current post as parish priest in Brighton, Adelaide.
Monsignor Dempsey, 68, was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in recognition of his services as director-general of the navy’s chaplaincy. He has also served as vicar-general to the Adelaide archdiocese.
The archdiocese said it was ”shocked and dismayed that Senator Xenophon has ignored our pleadings” concerning his proposal to reveal the priest’s identity.
”The priest concerned has categorically denied the allegation and has been a person of good standing in the archdiocese for a very long time.”
His naming last night follows allegations by a former Catholic priest who is now world leader of a breakaway Anglican sect.
Archbishop John Hepworth says the Adelaide archdiocese has failed to act on allegations he made to the church in 2007 accusing Monsignor Dempsey of several rapes when the two were seminarians in the 1960s.
Senator Xenophon told the Senate last night: ”The people of the Brighton parish have the right to know that for four years allegations have been outstanding that the priest, Ian Dempsey, raped John Hepworth and that church leadership has failed to make appropriate inquiries into this matter and that church leadership had failed to stand this priest down as a matter of course while inquiries take place.
”Sexual abuse flourishes because people keep secrets. For the people of SA this was a secret that in good conscience I did not feel I could, or should, keep.”
Senator Xenophon said he was concerned that despite having been given a detailed statement in 2008, the Adelaide Vicar-General, Monsignor David Cappo, had said this year the investigation was still at ”a preliminary stage”.
Archbishop Hepworth said before last night’s expose that he did not want Senator Xenophon to name the priest in Parliament but wanted him to ask for Monsignor Dempsey to be stood down while the church commissioned an inquiry by a QC.
Senator Xenophon over-ruled Archbishop Hepworth’s plea, saying earlier: ”If this priest is named tonight in the Senate, the Catholic Church will only have itself to blame. We have to act in the interests of parents and children in the parish first and foremost.”
Archbishop Hepworth has named two other priests, now deceased, who he says sexually preyed on him as a teenage seminarian before the alleged assaults, after he had turned 18, by Ian Dempsey.
Senator Xenophon has also called on the federal government to inquire into the role of Monsignor Cappo, recently made chairman of the new national Mental Health Commission.
Archbishop Hepworth, 67, is world primate of the 400,000-member Traditional Anglican Communion sect, which is establishing ties with the Catholic Church.
He says that he fled the Catholic priesthood in his 20s after serial sexual assaults over 12 years by a seminarian and two priests.
He told The Age Monsignor Dempsey had subjected him to ”at least a half a dozen” sexual assaults over three years from when he was aged about 18, ”by which stage I was in a fairly bad state”.
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Australian legislator names accused priest; archdiocese ‘appalled‘[updated]
CatholicCulture.org
September 2011
Ignoring pleas from the Adelaide archdiocese, an Australian lawmaker has identified the priest who is accused of raping Anglican Archbishop John Hepworth.
Speaking before parliament–and thus taking advantage of immunity from legal reprisals, Senator Nick Xenophon pointed to Father Ian Dempsey, a priest still in active ministry in the Adelaide archdiocese. Xenophon said that “the people of the Brighton parish have a right to know that for four years allegations have been outstanding that priest Ian Dempsey raped John Hepworth and that church leadership had failed to make appropriate inquiries into this matter and that church leadership has failed to stand this priest down as a matter of course while inquiries take place.”
Archbishop Hepworth, the head of the Traditional Anglican Communion, had revealed that he was molested repeatedly while he was a Catholic seminarian and young priest. Two of his three accused attackers are now deceased.
The Adelaide archdiocese had said that it received legal advice that the accused priest should not be publicly identified, and that “any decision to suspend the priest concerned would be unjustifiable as a matter of canon and civil law.”
“We are shocked and dismayed that Senator Xenophon has ignored our pleadings–and our offer of a full briefing–and proposes to release the name of the priest he referred to in parliament last night,” the archdiocese said. When Xenophon carried out his threat, the archdiocese issued a new statement saying that it was “appalled” by the move, and chided the legislator for ignoring the “extremely and highly complex background” of the case.
“You may be aware that the allegations made by Archbishop Hepworth relate to a period dating back almost 50 years,” the archdiocese had said in its public plea to Xenophon. “The priest concerned has categorically denied the allegations and, objectively speaking, it is not irrelevant that he has been a priest of good standing in the archdiocese for almost 50 years.”
“Despite being told of the abuse in 2007, and receiving a detailed six-page statement in March 2008, [Adelaide Vicar General Msgr.] David Cappo told John Hepworth this year that the investigation was still at, quote, ‘a preliminary stage,’” Xenophon responded. “It is clear that the seemingly low priority the Catholic Church in South Australia has given to this matter has caused great distress to John Hepworth.”
After Archbishop Hepworth said that he did not want the priest to be named in parliament, Xenophon said he was reconsidering his pledge. But he went ahead with his plan, claiming that he had some support from the traditionalist Anglican leader.
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On the Catholic Priest who allegedly raped an Anglican Archbishop
Times Live ( http://blogs.timeslive.co.za/expensive/2011/09/13/on-the-catholic-priest-who-allegedly-raped-an-anglican-archbishop/)
Posted: September 13th, 2011
By Bruce Gorton
At the moment an Australian lawmaker (Nick Xenophon) is threatening to expose a Catholic Priest who runs a South Australian parish, if the church doesn’t move the guy the eff away.
What is this priest accused of doing? Raping John Hepworth before he became an Anglican Archbishop. A priest who raped an Anglican Archbishop has his own parish right now.
Now the thing is I appreciate people standing up to the church and all that, but personally I feel if Xenophon has this particular pervert priest’s name – he should reveal it.
Simply moving the priest somewhere else was pretty much what bred the bulk of the peadophile scandal, naming and shaming at least makes it clear which perverts in cassocks Catholic parents should be keeping their kids away from.
If it is not okay to have that guy in your jurisdiction, it isn’t okay to palm him off on someone else either. The moral duty here is not simply to one’s constitutuents, but to the larger community. In this circumstance threats aren’t the moral course – naming the priest is.
So, the “alleged” predator was a navy chaplain for years, and Vicar General of the Diocese of Adelaide. As diocesan officials sat on serious sex abuse allegations against him he continued serving his unsuspecting flock.
Now that Dempsey’s name is out the diocese, which fought disclosure of his name tooth and nail, has issued a statement: ”The priest concerned has categorically denied the allegation and has been a person of good standing in the archdiocese for a very long time.”
The problem of course is that diocesan statement means little because: (1) until such time as a victim comes forward and his/her allegations are deemed credible a clerical molester is invariably ‘a priest in good standing’; and (2) virtually every clerical molester initially and categorically denies the allegations.
The question is: Why was Dempsey not pulled and an investigation conducted four years ago when diocesan officials first knew of the allegations?
I think the mud slinging on this one is in its infancy.