Will Salford follow Melbourne's example?

Letter sent to the press 9 May 2011

I was delighted to see that the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne has announced that it will be acting to laicise every one of its priests convicted of sexual offences against children (see http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/church-acts-to-defrock-all-paedophile-priests-20110508-1eebo.html#ixzz1LsOtJaBr ).

However, our local situation, here in the Diocese of Salford, remains very different.

Only a few months ago we discovered that, because Bishop Brain had never taken the action necessary to ensure his laicisation, Father Thomas Doherty, the former parish priest of St. Joseph’s Todmorden had remained a priest until his death in September 2010, despite having been convicted, in 1998, of five offences of indecency against a boy under 16 (see http://www.todmordennews.co.uk/news/convicted_priest_was_never_laicised_1_1997754 ), while the people of the Diocese are still waiting for the laicisation of Father William Green, the former parish priest of Holy Family Roman Catholic Church, Wigan, almost three years after he was convicted of 26 offences of indecent assault in 2008 (see http://www.wigantoday.net/news/paedo_priest_anger_1_2866892 ).

When can Catholics in the Diocese of Salford expect the same decisive action as is, now, promised in Australia? When can they expect Bishop Brain to act on the commitment he made in November 2001 to implement the recommendations of the Nolan Report?

Philip Gilligan