Philip Wilson became one of the highest-ranked church officials convicted of covering up child sex abuse when he was found guilty in May of concealing crimes by priest Jim Fletcher in the Hunter region of New South Wales state.The Newcastle Local Court sentenced the 67-year-old to 12 months’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of six months, but also ordered that he be assessed to serve it in home detention. Wilson had since been on bail and on Tuesday magistrate Robert Stone decided he will not need to spend time behind bars, with his age and prior good record taken into account. But he will have to wear a tracking device while serving his sentence. Wilson said nothing as he left the court, where he was mobbed by abuse survivors and members of the media.
This article addressed one of the highest-ranked church officials to be accused of sexual abuse in the 1970s. I find this so sad and disappointing that this man who is in such a high Catholic position which means he had a lot of power in Australia was appointed by the Pope to gain his position. Even if the evidence is out of of date, the amount of accusations made against this Australian Catholic official should be convincing to give him jail time. Also this isn’t the first time the Pope was faced with these issues by people accusing Catholic officials of sexually abusing them and it won’t be the last. I believe that not only are these Catholic officials are subject to the law just as average citizens are, but they should also have a background check before they are appointed. The Pope should issue this, in which throughout a Catholic Official’s career there are background checks to which they are subject to, in order to discern if they are sexually abusing children and/or adults. It is difficult for a victim of abuse to go seek justice, especially when they are children because their minds aren’t fully developed therefore they are very impressionable. In result many of these children commit suicide because of this. When the Boston Globe released the Catholic church scandal, it reported thousands upon thousands of accused Catholic Officials throughout the world of sexual abuse and those were just the reported ones. Many people don’t even come out to tell their story because they feel shameful of it even if it wasn’t their fault. The Australian priest didn’t even apologize to his victims. That goes to show this man’s ego is big. His title hasn’t even been taken away by the Pope. However, the Australian government has apologized to the victims, yet that has not been enough for the victims gratification. And rightfully so, because the Australian Catholic official didn’t even receive jail time for his actions since he was deemed too old to spend the rest of his time in jail. Rather he is spending his jail time at home with a monitor on him. The big question is, time and time again why Catholic officials are able to work their way around the law. There is no justice and that needs to change. That starts with the Pope and local communities to take incitative to bring these disgusting men who abuse children and ruin the rest of their lives to justice.