Revelation (2020): Season 1, Episode 1 - The Children Have Been Used By The Devil - full transcript

(FILM PROJECTOR WHIRRS)

CROWD: # For he's
a jolly good fellow

# For he's a jolly good fellow

# For he's
a jolly good fellow

# And so say all of us. #

MAN: Hip-hip!
Hooray!

Hip-hip!
Hooray!

Hip-hip!
Hooray!

(APPLAUSE)

Oh, isn't that beautiful?

A beautiful cowl.
Do you all know what that is?



(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

SARAH FERGUSON:
There are men living among us

like Lucifer's fallen angels.

They're ordinary men
to look at them,

yet their crimes are so appalling,

their depravities so profound

that you have to steel yourself
to meet them face to face.

It's their apparent ordinariness
that I find most disturbing.

They really should look like monsters
to match their deeds.

But they don't.

They're simply men who did
monstrous things to children.

What sets them apart
is that they were holy men,

whose supposed proximity to God

gave them a special power
over the innocent.



Can you begin by telling us
who you are

and what you did
that you are so ashamed of?

I'm Vincent Ryan, a Catholic priest.

I'm ashamed because
I sexually abused many boys.

What were the ages of those boys?

From six to 17.

And how many of them were there?
33.

As a priest, you know
there's a hierarchy of sin.

Is there anything worse than
the sexual abuse of a young child?

I don't think so.

I don't think so.

It just goes to the root
of a person's life.

Did you understand then that
you were condemning those children

to a lifetime of pain?

No.

This is the weird part. I...

I now can understand...
People can't understand.

"How DIDN'T you know?
Why didn't you know?

"You must have. You're educated.
You're a priest."

But I didn't. I...I was...

I don't suppose
I should use the word,

but as far as I was concerned,
I was...in a relationship.

I was getting the love
and the human touch

and the understanding
and the...belonging that...

You understand a lot of people would
find those words deeply offensive?

Of course. Of course they would.
And I find it impossible now.

I have no problem
understanding people saying,

"What rubbish. You can't..."

But I'm telling the truth.
It's the way it was. I...

Can you be forgiven?

By God? Most certainly by God.

In this series,
we're going to look closely

at the life of Father Vincent Ryan

and the lives of other
paedophile priests and brothers

and at how the Catholic Church
protected them, hid them away

and covered up their crimes.

But hovering over all of this
is the persistent question

of how men of God
justified all this to themselves.

Listening to Ryan's own
justifications, I thought hard

about including his description of
serial paedophilia as 'relationships'

and his claim that his child victims
wanted to be with him.

These were such blatant,
deluded falsehoods,

but Ryan was not alone
in these delusions

that the children were complicit,
even to blame

for the sins of the fathers.

There is a subliminal belief,
and I've heard it rehearsed in Rome

in company where I've been
talked across by cardinals

when I'm sitting there -

may as well not be there,
but they're talking across me -

but it's worth listening,
because what they're saying is

these children, you know,
from the age of seven,

with the use of reason
and the age of discretion,

are capable of grave sin, and...

Does that mean that the child
has a role in the...

Yes. I'm afraid so.
..in the crime?

I'm afraid that there is a belief
that, yes,

that the children have been used
by 'the devil'

to tempt or seduce or to subvert

the vocation of a man
who was 'called by God'.

Priests who offended were seen

as having somehow fallen
or been tempted.

Very often, by the way,
the accusation was

that they were tempted
by their victims.

Victims were blamed. Children were
blamed for seducing priests.

So victims were seen as
the source of the corruption.

The children who were abused
were the evil

who tempted and corrupted
the priesthood.

I used to just pray to God,

"I don't think this child
can be blamed for this.

"I'M in sin. They're not.

"But if they are in some way,
put their sin on my shoulders."

That was my prayer.

Ryan is preparing to go to court.

He spent 14 years in prison
after pleading guilty

to multiple crimes against children
when he was a parish priest.

He was released in 2010,

but now two new accusers
have come forward

saying he sexually abused them
when they were children.

Aged 80, Ryan faces the prospect
of returning to prison.

For the first time in this country,

the New South Wales District Court
has allowed our cameras in

to film a sexual assault trial.

Ryan has also agreed to the filming.

His is one of many
clergy sex assault trials

now working their way
through the courts.

(SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY)

You can stay in this court
at all times?

Including evidence?

Since the 1950s, more than 1,000
priests and brothers

are alleged to have sexually abused
children in Australia.

The Royal Commission
into Child Sexual Abuse

heard more complaints
about the Catholic Church

than any other institution

and referred over 400 of those cases
to police.

People can't just move on if they're
the victims of such crimes.

So when they give evidence
about what's happened to them,

they feel better,
they feel vindicated.

The opportunity to have their say
in court is very important.

MAN: The royal commission
threw a light into this area

and it permitted victims
to come forward decades after

to put their shame aside

and to understand
that they had a voice.

So, certainly in the last few years,

there has been an enormous uptake
in cases such as this.

MAN: And the offender said to him,
and I quote,

"If you tell anyone, anyone at all,

"you'll be taken away
from your parents,

"your parents will be thrown
out of the church..."

MAN: Dave O'Hearn's private profile
was that of a major criminal.

He was not part of a drug syndicate,
nor was he an armed robber.

He was a paedophile.

He was a public holy man
and a private crime figure...

Of the various male victims,
all were altar boys

aged between 10 and 12
at the time of particular crimes...

WOMAN: The offender now appears for
sentence in relation to 64 offences

committed upon 12 victims
between 1978 to 1985

while he was a brother
in the St John of God Order...

MAN: The very same hands

that celebrated the apparent miracle
of the Eucharist at mass

defiled children.

(GAVEL STRIKES)

CLERK: Silence. All stand.

There's no jury
in Vincent Ryan's trial.

Because of his previous convictions,

the defence requested
trial by judge alone.

Thank you. Alright...

The judge is Dina Yehia.

Well, then, are you ready
to commence?

Yes, I am, Your Honour.

Yes, Mr Crown.
Thank you.

Fundamentally, an accused person
will ask for a judge-alone trial

for tactical reasons -

they would feel that they'd have
a better chance of an acquittal.

I formed a view that
this was one of the rare cases

that could never run
in front of a jury

because we would never be able
to find a jury

who could set aside
what Mr Ryan had done in the past.

Your Honour will see that there are
five counts in the indictment.

The charges are from
two complainants, now grown men,

who were altar boys in the Newcastle
diocese in New South Wales

in the '70s and '80s.

Their identities are protected.

Although it's a judge-alone trial,

it's appropriate for me to say
at the outset,

as one always does,
this is a criminal trial.

The Crown bears the burden of proof

and the Crown must prove each
element of the...of each offence

beyond a reasonable doubt.

The first complainant tried out
as an altar boy in the 1970s

in Ryan's church in
the beachside suburb of Merewether.

In his opening address,
the prosecution gives a summary

of the evidence the court will hear
against Ryan.

He started to tickle the complainant

under the arms, ribs
and back of the neck.

The complainant was standing up.

The accused put his right hand

down the front of the complainant's
pants and inside his underwear

and began stroking and fondling
the complainant's penis.

Ryan pleaded guilty in his previous
cases and avoided a trial.

..about how much fun
the altar boys have together...

This is the first time
he's been forced to listen

to descriptions of
his alleged offences.

..Father Ryan, the accused,
then put his other hand inside...

The second complainant
was an altar boy with Ryan

at a church in Cessnock
in the mid-'80s.

The accused, it is alleged,

placed his right hand
on the complainant's left thigh

and started rubbing HIS thigh.

That went on for a short time,
about 30 seconds,

and then it's alleged

that the accused moved his hand
onto his penis

and on...from the outside
of the complainant's clothing,

rubbed the complainant's penis.

That's count three.

Count three includes an allegation
that the accused took h...not...

..took hold of the penis
of the complainant

from outside of...
outside of his pants

and was...and was...masturbating it
as best as he could.

On another occasion,

Ryan is alleged to have forced
the boy to have oral sex.

As he left, the accused said,
"Don't tell anyone.

"They won't believe you.
I'm a priest."

For decades,
the church's default position

was to be sceptical of victims.

Vincent Ryan's lifelong friend,

the former vicar-general
of Newcastle, Father Bill Burston,

remains a sceptic.

I'm somewhat astounded at it. Um...

Vincent, in one way,
was an exception

to most of the paedophiles
that we've seen,

in that when he was first arrested
and the court process got going,

he named all his victims.

So, the surprise is that
two more victims have come forward

that were not named.

That one surprises me,
and I'm concerned about that.

What do you mean, concerned?

Well, WERE there two more?

Or are these...are there two people
looking for a handout? I don't know.

I mean, but it certainly raises
the question, unfortunately.

I think there can be an overemphasis
on believing victims.

Um... Some would say
that victims do not lie.

Unfortunately, I have evidence
where that's not true.

Your position is that
you are not guilty of these charges.

I know that. I know you find that
hard to believe. I know I'm not.

These are...these are things
you never forget.

The names, the people...you know.
You don't forget this.

And again I repeat,
I'm not accusing anyone of lying.

I'm not accusing anyone
of make anything up.

But when I know for sure, without a
bit of doubt, that it didn't happen,

you've got to ask...
so, what's going on?

In the case against Ryan,

the prosecution will use evidence
of other similar offences

that Ryan has committed in the past.

Is there to be evidence
of other acts...

This is called 'tendency evidence'

and it's used to prove
a pattern of behaviour.

It's there to support the direct
evidence of a complainant.

It is evidence
that a person has either

a tendency to have
a particular state of mind

or a tendency to act
in a particular way.

One, he was the local
Catholic priest.

Two, his victims were,
generally speaking, altar boys.

Three, they were
under his authority.

Four, the crimes very often happened
in the sacristy.

The evidence will be

that the accused, in his position
as the local Catholic priest,

has in the past sexually abused
about 35 boys

over a period of about 20 years

in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

These boys were often
sexually abused by the accused

when they were under his care
as altar boys,

similarly to the relationship
between the accused

and the complainants who are the
complainants in the current charges.

At the end of the trial,

the court will be asked to consider
whether that evidence proves

that the accused had a tendency
to have a particular state of mind

and to act in a particular way.

Vincent Ryan typically
expresses confusion

about his long and proven history
as a child sex abuser

and how he was able
to live with himself.

I'll adjourn the trial, then, until
tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock.

CLERK: All stand.

There's nothing about what I did
that's life-giving.

It's destructive. It's...

It's the total opposite
to why I became a priest.

So, how did you reconcile those
two parts of your life - your...

I didn't. I didn't.
..your...

..you as a Christian priest
and you as someone who...

I didn't. I didn't.

..effectively raped young children?
I didn't...

I didn't approach it.
I didn't look at it.

I just... I'm not conscious
of ever REFUSING to look at it.

It just didn't happen.

How, after doing these things
and worried so much about my...

..how would I go and say mass
without going to confession?

How would I do that?
And what's the answer?

I have no answer. I don't know.

I can't even begin
to understand that.

One of the first witnesses

is the former police officer
who first investigated Ryan.

JUDGE YEHIA:
And when you're ready, Mr Crown.

DAVID PATCH: Yes.
Your name is Troy Wayne Grant.

Is that correct?
That is correct.

In 1995, you were assigned

to the North Region
Major Crime Squad,

brackets, Child Protection
Investigation Team, close brackets?

Yeah, I was stationed at Cessnock
Criminal Investigation Branch.

And at that time,
you were the officer in charge

of the investigation into
alleged child sex offences

involving a then Catholic priest,
Father Vincent Gerard Ryan.

Is that correct?
That is correct.

The investigation was called
Operation Sentol -

Sierra Echo November
Tango Oscar Lima.

And that person is the accused
currently before the court.

Is that correct?
That is correct.

Here, the prosecution gets Troy Grant
to authenticate

transcripts of the interviews
he did with Ryan in the 1990s.

During that investigation,

you electronically interviewed
Mr Ryan on four separate occasions?

That is correct.

Have a look at this document,
please, Mr Grant.

Uh, is that the transcript

of an interview that you conducted
with the accused

at Cooma police station
on 27 August 1996?

Yes, it is.

That's it.

Have you read a copy of
your statement that you made...

The defence wants Troy Grant to admit
the significance of Ryan's admissions

in that interview at Cooma.

He admitted to committing offences.
He didn't...

And he got upset
when we went into detail.

I understand.

Now, there is a point
in the interview not long after -

as you say,
Mr Ryan became a little upset

and Mr Phillips appears
to be settling him down -

that they sought to have a break
in the interview,

and when they came back
from that break,

did Mr Ryan tell you other things?

Yes, he did.

And did he, in fact, disclose to you

that he had committed
sexual offences

against some 17 other victims?

That's my memory. I'd have to check
the documents to be precise.

But I believe it was
an additional 17.

And until that moment,
you had no idea

that that information was going to
be presented, I take it?

That is correct.

Mr Ryan's defence
essentially was this -

that he had confessed
to everything that he had done

when he was interviewed
back in 1996.

He went to great lengths

in his interview
with Senior Constable Grant

to set out in some detail
the things that he had done

and the boys that he had done it to.

And so, fast-forwarding 20 years,

when two more complainants
came forward

and said, "It happened to me,"

Mr Ryan was very adamant
that he had told Mr Grant

EVERYTHING that he had done.

Troy Grant became New South Wales
police and justice minister.

That was a clear modus operandi...

In 1995, he was a senior constable
in Cessnock

investigating the parish priest.

He was like the Pied Piper.

He'd offer fun,
you know, lollies, foods...

Yep. Fun.
..experiences to the beaches,

watching pornographic materials,

and then intermittently amongst
all that, he would assault them.

Grant's original investigation began

in a similar way
to the current trial.

..was the same - inconsistent...

Two young men came to the police
with allegations

that the priest, Father Ryan,
had sexually assaulted them

when they were altar boys
in his church.

Ooh, look at that.
(INHALES SHARPLY)

Yep. The class photo.

That's a colour photo.

Yeah.

And it makes a big difference
seeing them young, doesn't it?

It's sobering when you see, um...
them as children.

Yeah. I was really intent
to make sure...

Each of the victims gave me their
school photographs at the time.

It puts it into
the proper perspective,

is that that is the victims
at the time they were victims.

They weren't the men giving evidence
in the witness box,

they were young boys,
prepubescent boys.

They're so young.
Yeah.

And innocent.

That goes in it.
That stays in there...

His boxes contain
a vast collection of evidence.

For me as a journalist,

this is like stumbling across
an archaeological dig

full of the artefacts
of historical crimes.

Is there any reference
to what he's there for?

Or is it just, you know...
Sorry.

There is material here
that brings Ryan's past to life

and helps us understand
how he operated.

The evidence as it was
was pretty overwhelming

from a whole lot of fronts.
Mm-hm.

The jelly, use of lubricants,

even where tissue boxes
were placed around.

What's that? Is that Maitland?

Yeah, that's, uh...during
the search warrant in Maitland.

So, what we have there
is an Instamatic camera.

Mm-hm. And he used that
to take pictures of the boys?

Yes, according to
the boys' statements,

although I didn't find
any of the actual photographs,

which would have been
an absolute nail in the coffin.

I took photos of one of them

and I took photos
of one of them pretending

that I was having anal intercourse
with him, yeah.

Well, he was lying on the bed
with an erection

and I was masturbating him

and my penis was in the area
of approaching his...

It didn't connect. And...
and the other kid took the photo.

Um, and what did you do
with the photos?

I destroyed them.

Are these photographs of the...
of his victims?

Uh, yes, some of.

And they're like
a family set of photographs.

You can see they're in a frame...
And what's in the album?

Uh, just, um, random photographs.

I remember distinctly one of him

sitting next to a fibreglass
life-size Ronald McDonald...

I've seen that.
..and, uh...

Hang on. I think it's in here.
This is, like...

Hang on.

Where is he on that... Here it is.

That one. Is that it?
Yeah. There you go.

So, that photo, um...

..was an example, or emblematic,
of the types of photos

and how he entrenched himself
into this victim's family.

So, this is on a...he's on a trip
with one of the victims?

Yeah, he's taken him to McDonald's
to ingratiate him

and give him something that
his family couldn't afford to do.

So, are you in this picture?

You block so much of yourself out.

It does look like me on the right.

Yeah, I think that's me there.

You know, I've never seen...

..I can't tell you when I've seen
photos of myself as a kid.

Never wanted to look.

How old do you think you are
in this picture?

I obviously don't remember
the photo, but I...

I don't know. I look maybe...

..11 or 12, maybe?

I don't mean to introduce this
as a surprise,

'cause it wasn't intended
in this way,

but I should tell you that these
photos are Vince Ryan's photos.

They're from his slide collection.

Oh, you're kidding?

Yeah. Well...doesn't surprise me.

Nothing surprises me
with that...person.

As a child of a staunch
Catholic family in the 1970s,

Peter Dorn was chosen to be
an altar boy for Vince Ryan.

There was hundreds and hundreds
and...you know, thousands of people

that would go to church
every weekend

and only a select number
of altar boys,

so you were pretty...
you were pretty special.

To stand up there and look down
and see your family

and you knew that they were...

..you know, particularly,
you know, Dad,

you know, they'd be
very proud of you.

You could tell. You could see it.

Yeah, I think most parents thought
that was a good thing to be. Yeah.

And of course, they, like
the children, trusted the priest.

Trusted YOU?
Trusted me.

Peter Dorn has eradicated much of
his childhood from his memory.

We asked him to search for photos
of his boyhood.

These sad little remnants
don't tell much of a story,

but you can still see the young boy
whose childhood was stolen by Ryan.

I see the excitement of life.

I see all that stuff that I didn't
have as a child and I wanted.

I stole that from them. I stole...

I experienced childhood through them
in some way.

MAN: (IN ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE) Surely
his blessing will come on us all.

Ryan's grooming of Dorn began

in the playground of his
Catholic primary school in Maitland

when Dorn was 10.

You would just be playing games
like, you know...

..uh, red rover cross over
was one I would always remember.

And he would just be...

..he would just be there
and be involved in it.

The kids just rushed me.
You know, this was wonderful.

They wanted to be in my presence.

I mean, if you won, he was sort of,
you know, encouraging and...

What does 'encouraging' mean?

Um...

..that he would...

Well, yeah, he would, like,
congratulate you a bit,

he would be putting his arm
around you and, you know, um...

..you know, he'd give you
a pat on the back or...those...

You know, just...
Yeah, he was friendly.

And in a way...in a way that was
different to other priests?

Well, other priests
wouldn't touch you.

That was the initial thing,
to touch.

And so there would be
some sort of grabbing hold of

and some...'accidental' touching
in an inappropriate place

to see the reaction.

To be honest, I didn't understand
what that was,

but there would be touches in areas
that you wouldn't expect -

like, you know, your bottom
and things like that, that...

And he would brush that off as
just being accidental or whatever.

I think at all times
he wanted to make sure

that he was in a safe position
to get what he wanted,

so he just kept pushing
the boundaries

until he could get to the point
where you were trapped by it.

Um...it's like being
physically enclosed

but not with any physical boundary,
but you can't get out of it.

You've got no air.
You've got nowhere to turn.

So, how did he do that? So, it's
obviously not in the playground.

Where did he get you
where he was safe?

In the sacristy.
In the bishop's house. Um...

It's like I said, a priest...

It's a horrible thing to say,

but a priest could have access
to you whenever they wanted.

How afraid were you
of being found out?

No. It never occurred to me.

(CHUCKLES) Yeah, I know. I know.
It never occurred to me.

I was so entrenched in this...

..this...this...

..this make-believe world.

That's not really possible.

You must have had some concern
about discovery.

No. I know.

I know it seems impossible,

but I have no memory of ever
worrying about anything like that.

It doesn't just seem impossible.
It strikes me as being untrue.

Yeah, I know.

I can only tell you the truth
as I know it, and that is the truth.

I...I know.

(LAUGHS) I know.
I know you can't believe it.

Who COULD believe it?

I don't.

In that sacristy after church,
they could do whatever they wanted

and nobody, nobody
would come in there.

Like, no matter what any priest says
about that being in a public area,

there is no-one
that would come into there.

You could do what you wanted
in there.

You know, they'd give you wine.
You can do...

No-one's gonna come
and knock on the door.

So, what happened in the sacristy?

Yeah, so, he would...he would
give you some wine occasionally.

He would have a little bit

and then he would just
give it to you and say, you know,

"This is the body of"...
uh, "the blood of Christ,"

again tell you that you're special

and that you should drink some
and it makes you more holy.

He would just sit next to you
and he'd be touching you

and, you know, he'd touch inside
your pants and get you to touch him,

and then it would kind of
just progress from there.

When the policeman Troy Grant
contacted Dorn

as part of his investigation
in the mid-'90s,

Dorn simply couldn't bring himself
to tell the whole story.

I had full intentions of telling him
what I knew, but...

..when I started to talk about it,
it was just...

..the first time
I'd heard the words out loud,

and I just...just couldn't.

Amongst Ryan's multiple charges
brought by police in 1997,

he only admitted to fondling
Peter Dorn.

The truth is much worse.

So, he would...

..he would touch you,
you know, he would...um...

..he would undress you,
there was touching...um...

He would...uh...

He would make you perform oral sex.

Yeah.

Most of the time, I'd be wearing
shorts or something like that,

and he would just, you know,
take them down and...

And get you to perform oral sex
on him?

Yep.
Do you remember that the first time?

'Cause that's...
Yeah, yeah, definitely.

Were you scared?

It's...

It's a very...

It's hard to know...
to describe what the words were.

Yeah, definitely scared,
but just...

..probably confused,
I think is...you know...

..one of the words. Ashamed.

I mean, while you don't understand
what it is, you know it's not right.

But...

It was like you were being complicit
in something from that point

and it was almost like
a point of no return -

"How can you tell anybody now when
you've done something like that?"

Today, Ryan's own evidence begins.

Mr Ryan, will you come
to the witness box, please?

CLERK: Do you swear by Almighty God

that the evidence
that you shall give

will be the truth, the whole truth
and nothing but the truth?

If so, please say, "I do."

I do.
Take a seat.

When you're ready, Mr King.
KING: Thank you, Your Honour.

Just before Mr Ryan
gives his evidence,

he is a man of advanced years who
requires reasonably frequent breaks

to attend to various things.

He's in the witness box. Just...

I've told Mr Ryan
if he's in any discomfort

he should just raise his hand.

Yes, of course.
Thank you, Your Honour.

In a nice, loud voice, Mr Ryan,

could you tell the court
your full name?

Vincent Gerard Ryan.

And what is your date of birth?

22 April 1938.

Which makes you currently
aged how old?

80.
Thank you.

You trained as a priest
in the 1960s. Is that right?

I went to the seminary
at Springwood in 1958.

And where were you ordained
as a priest?

In Rome on 6 January 1966.

As a trainee priest,
Ryan was so promising

that the bishop of Maitland sent him
to study in the Vatican.

MAN: "Mr Vince Ryan
has been selected

"by His Lordship Bishop Toohey

"to complete his studies
for the priesthood in Rome.

"This is a great honour for Vince
and the Parish of East Maitland."

Bishop Toohey made the pilgrimage
to Rome to meet his acolyte.

MAN: "Dear Mr and Mrs Ryan,

"I bring back from Rome
greetings from your son, Vincent,

"who continues to earn
the commendation

"of his superiors in the college."

Ryan studied canon law
at Propaganda College,

a seminary in the Vatican

for trainee priests from far-flung
churches like Australia's.

Many Australian priests
studied there at the time -

including the young George Pell...

..and Ryan's Newcastle friend
Bill Burston.

BILL BURSTON: He was a very quiet,
very shy sort of person.

Very... In one way very friendly,
but not very outgoing.

Um...

And I think that's been
his whole story, yes.

Rome and the Vatican
had grandeur and glory,

and for a young man
from a parochial church province,

the contrast was intoxicating.

RYAN: Rome for me was
a breath of fresh air.

It was life.
It was everything, you know?

And here in St Peter's Basilica,
Ryan was ordained by Pope Paul VI.

In the moment of ordination, in his
own mind and that of the church,

Ryan was elevated above ordinary men.

It was such a huge event.

I mean, how many of us were there?
66, was it?

I forget how many it was.

A huge number of people, you know,

and in the majesty
of St Peter's Basilica,

it was overwhelming, really, yeah.

Ryan's parents came from Australia
for the event

and his first mass
as an ordained priest.

George Pell was also ordained
in Rome.

He invited Ryan to his ordination.

What does ordination mean about
the priest's relationship with God?

It meant you were set apart and
you had this special mark on you.

Is that one of the problems
at the centre of this -

that the church encouraged priests
to think

that they were better, holier,
closer to God than ordinary people?

They certainly encouraged you
to think that you had to be.

In Rome, Ryan says he knew
he was a homosexual -

a grave sin in the church.

But he claims he had
no sexual interest in children.

See, for some reason,
study and friendships...

You know, you had people all around
you and the excitement of the time.

I could control myself
in the seminary.

You know, in Rome and that.

You know, even though
I had had feelings of attraction

towards some of my peers.

Were you encouraged
to be secretive about sex?

Was sex a secret business?

No. No.

It just wasn't raised.

(BELLS TOLL)

The whole concept of celibacy
was just something that you...

..you signed up for.

BURSTON: That's part
of the difficulty

with the whole generation of us -
that...

..you know, there was
no great understanding,

or depth of understanding,

of sexuality and celibacy
and where it can all fit.

Is it hard to be celibate?

Yes.

Because we're human. (CHUCKLES)

MAN: Celibacy in the Catholic Church

demands something
that is entirely inhuman -

that is, the suppression

of normal sexual inclinations
and desires.

Not only to do them

but even to think about them
and indulge in thinking about them

is equally intrinsically wrong.

Peter Evans is a psychiatrist
and former Franciscan priest.

Whenever you suppress
normal sexual desires...

..eventually they'll appear
in some form of disorder.

Um...they will act out sexually.

I think that celibacy
predisposes individuals...

..or, individuals are predisposed
to sexual abuse

but celibacy acts
as a sort of...um...

..suppression gone wrong.

After 10 years overseas
in Rome, London and New York,

Ryan returned to Australia,

brought home by Bishop Toohey
to the Maitland diocese,

a bastion of Catholic faith
and culture.

He claims this is where
his offending against children began.

Oh, how it started was...

..playing tomfoolery
with some of the altar boys.

I grabbed one of them like this,
grabbed hold of him,

you know, in a bunny hug
sort of thing,

and I felt an erection.

And that's how it really started,
that thought started to work.

Alright.

(CLEARS THROAT)

Did you immediately act on
your sexual attraction to children?

No. No. No.

It took me a long while. I...

I know...I had to groom myself
towards...

I didn't see someone
and all of a sudden think,

"I'm gonna touch you
in an inappropriate way."

As we've heard, Ryan's current trial
is the result of fresh allegations

from two former altar boys
who came forward to police in 2017

to allege they were abused by Ryan.

When you were arrested
by Detective Briggs in 2017,

you asked him the name of the boys
who had come forward.

Yes.

And you said...um...

..in terms,
"I've never heard of them."

Yes.
Right. What did you mean by that?

I meant by that...over the years,
I don't know how many altar servers

must have been in the parishes
I've been in.

It would have been...I don't know.
Many, many. (CHUCKLES)

Uh...most of their names,
I won't remember.

The only names I do remember
are those I abused,

because their names were part
of my grooming myself,

it was part of my
offending preparation.

Their names are imprinted in
my brain. I can't get rid of them.

The Crown prosecutor
probes that claim.

So, what did you mean when you said,
"I groomed myself"?

So, I started fantasising
during masturbation.

I took a long time
grooming myself thinking.

And the name...
This is why I don't...

This is why I remember names.

He started saying their names
over and over to himself

in his room at night, in his bed.

He masturbated as he said
their names over and over again.

And his case was,
he never touched them

until he had well and truly formed
in his own mind

a relationship with them.

And you were given instructions
to run that as a defence?

That was his position, and so, yes.

It was a very difficult defence
to run, but it was his position.

Right at the beginning
of your evidence,

you, uh...you said that, uh...

..that all of this started,
all of the sexual offending started

with what you called
"tomfoolery with the altar boys".

Yes.
OK.

So you were in fact picking the boys
by this process of selection

who would be most likely to engage
in sexual acts with you.

Is that right?
Yes.

You in fact were touching them

to desensitise them to the fact of
physical contact in the genital area

between you, an adult,
and them, the boys.

That's right, isn't it?

Well... (CHUCKLES)

I touched them for the reason I told
you - just to see their reaction.

Using this desensitisation...
None of that was in my head.

I was after friendships.

So you were in fact...
you learnt to...

..that this was in fact a process
of desensitising boys

to inappropriate touching by you
in the genital area.

That's correct, isn't it?

I don't know where you're going
with this 'desensitising' business.

I'm just a normal person
with that attraction,

and I...I just...
desensitising didn't come into it.

You weren't a, quote, "normal
person", end quote, at all, Mr Ryan.

You were a sexual predator

in relation to young male children
under your care

for more than 20 years.

That's right, isn't it?
Yes.

Where was it that you first engaged

in sexually inappropriate conduct
with children?

At Maitland.

Regardless of his proven
history of abuse,

Ryan persists with the claim

that his crimes in Maitland
were at the lower end of the scale.

In Maitland, it was just a casual
touch through clothing and that.

I never, ever saw a child's penis
or anything like that,

or put my hand inside their trousers
or anything like that, but...

Mr Ryan, can you please go...

The prosecutor seeks to prove
Ryan is lying...

..to the last page of that...

..taking him to his own admissions
about Peter Dorn.

So, Mr Ryan, I'm suggesting
that when you...

You've given evidence that you
disclosed everything to the police

when you were interviewed in 1996.

That's correct.

That remains your evidence now?
That remains my evidence.

And, Mr Ryan, I suggest to you
that that is not true.

Well...

Do you agree with that or disagree?
No. No, I disagree.

Because I told everything.

And in particular, I...
Doesn't make sense.

..I suggest you did not tell
the police

when you were interviewed by them
in August 1996

that you had committed offences.

You did not tell police
that you'd committed offences

against Peter Dorn at Maitland.

What do you say to that suggestion?
(SIGHS)

I must have told them at some stage,

because I remember
that I had to give other names

at some other stage.

I think it was
on the day of committal at, uh...

Whether that was Dorn or not,
I don't know, but I was...I was...

..going through my mind

trying to remember all these things
from so long ago.

I did everything I could.

And eventually I pleaded guilty
to something against Dorn,

so at some stage, I told them.

I don't know whether it's in here
or where it is.

And furthermore, Mr Ryan, I suggest

that your evidence
to this court today

that at Maitland there was only
touching on the outside

was not true.

Well, it is true.
What do you say about that?

I say that's a false accusation.

Because you admitted...

..the offence...

..you admitted the fact...this fact.

"He then began to caress
the victim's leg" -

that's Peter Dorn's leg -

"before putting his hand
inside the victim's underpants,

"where he fondled the victim."

Do you see that?
I see that.

Do you see the word 'inside'?
Yes.

The phrase
"inside the victim's underpants"?

Yes.

You see the contradiction
between that admitted fact

and your evidence today?

I...

This thing here, I don't...
I don't remember this at all.

I don't remember...
I don't remember...

I remember the incident with
Peter Dorn, but this is not it. I...

Where did this come from? Did I
sign this? Where did I see this?

JUDGE: When you say "this",

I think the witness is referring
to exhibit E,

which is the statement of facts.

And in particular, that phrase
about inside the victim's underwear.

Is that what you're talking about,
Mr Ryan?

Yeah. Because I...

When you asked rhetorically,
where did this come from?

Yeah. I...I remember
the incident with Peter Dorn.

I remember it clearly.

If you'd like to know.

And that's not it. He certainly was
never in the bishop's house.

You agree that
this exhibit E facts document

asserts that you on two occasions

lured Peter Dorn to a room
at the bishop's house.

No. I know that...
You see... You see that...

Let me finish. You see that there
in the facts, Mr Ryan?

I see that there.

And I know that I've said I did it,
but I don't know how that can be,

because it isn't true.

Where did this come from?

Peter Dorn has a very different
memory of the Bishop's house.

Is that the bishop's house?
DORN: That's the bishop's house.

Wow. Doesn't look as big.

I'd go in,

and I think that was, like, an open
area when you went in the middle,

and it was rooms off...downstairs.

So, you would sit on his...
he would get you to sit on his lap?

Yep.

And then touch you?
Yes.

And did he do any of
the more extreme things -

that is, take his,
you know, penis out?

He would, yeah.

Not as often, but, yeah, he would.
You...

I don't know. I don't know how
he protected himself from, um...

..from being found out,

but I don't doubt for a second
that he had worked out...

..how that it was safe for him.

No. The bishop's house was
the holy of holies.

You...you didn't bring
anybody in there.

I couldn't have... No.

You just referred to the bishop's
house as being "the holy of holies".

Mmm.

But you were able
to masturbate with boys

in the sacristy of a church.

Isn't that the holy of holies?
Yes.

I'm using the word 'holy of holies'

in quite a different
sort of context here.

You're talking about
'holy of holies' in a sacred place.

Yes.

I'm talking about the bishop's house
as a holy of holies

as about authority and power
and...and, uh, proper.

And what happened
after he'd finished?

Mmm. Um...

He...he would again just tell you,
you know, you're special

and that, you know, um...

..to remember that he was...
you know, he was a priest

and that what you're doing
is God's will

and you're helping serve the priest.

And...he would...

Also, then he would start to...

..you know, he would be telling you
that it's something

that you can't talk about,
you can't tell anybody about,

um...that it just is between us.

I never, ever remember saying that
to anybody.

Maybe I did. But I don't believe
I did, 'cause I...

It just doesn't fit in with
my memory of things that, uh...

I had no reason to say that.

And yet so many of them say you did.

Yeah, well, there you go.

He doesn't want people to think

that he needed to frighten kids
by saying that,

that he just had this sense of power
and this control,

that he didn't need to do that.

But he did do it.

The biggest thing
that's haunted me about it

is when you learn afterwards -

you know, and I mean
a long time later - um...

..how much offending there was.

And you carry a guilt that
you didn't do anything about it

and that that led to
other people being offended.

In 1973, the bishop of Maitland
moved Father Ryan

to be assistant priest in
the beachside suburb of Merewether.

One of Ryan's lies
to us and to the court

is that his escalation
to higher levels of sexual abuse

had something to do with the nature
of the place and the children here.

I think just the whole atmosphere
was so different.

The children in Maitland
weren't bold or anything, uh...

..but the children in Merewether -
it's a surfside...

And everything attracted me.

The colours, the brightness.

The sunburnt kids. Everything.

He's a very, very smart man.

Scott will say the same thing.
Very, very smart man.

He knew exactly what he was doing.

He knew he could get away with it
because he was a priest

and because he'd
got away with it before.

Not just once...

Go right, sorry.
Right.

Gerard McDonald came
from a big family,

generations of Catholics loyal to
the church and their local priests.

So, what's this here? Is this...
This is the church.

Now, slow down.
This is the laneway now.

Mm-hm.

So, that's where the vestry is,
straight down there.

That's the sacristy back there?

That's the sacristy down there,
but they've all changed it.

And it doesn't do your head in...
driving past it, like, all the time?

It does my head in, darling,
don't...

It does do your head in?

Well, I mean, it's got to be told.

But not so much that
it makes you want to leave town

and go somewhere else?

I don't know that I...

If something happened to me,
I don't think I could stay

and drive past it like you must do
a hundred times a week.

Yeah, well... I do a fair bit, yeah.

But I try to avoid going actually
past this part of it, you know?

Um... (SIGHS)

It's very, very hard, yeah.

Gerard's parents sent him
to the Catholic primary school,

where he was chosen by Ryan
to be an altar boy.

RYAN: It would be in the sacristy
after or during the time of...of...

..of altar boy practice, you know?
Just...

You know, I would have, uh...

..you know, would have made sure
the ones there that day for, uh...

(COUGHS) ..for practice would have
been the ones I was attracted to.

There were few moments in my life
that meant anything.

And this is gonna seem strange,
but one was saying mass

and two was being with people
who loved me.

That meant the kids.

Um...you understand people will find

the notion of 'love'
in this context offensive?

Of course they do.
Of course they do.

So, how old are you in this picture?

How old is everyone?
Oh, I would have been 10.

You just look like every
school photo I've ever seen.

And that's you?
Yep. Scott's not in there.

Scott Hallett was another
of the altar boys

in Father Ryan's group that year.

You know, it was
a very jokey sort of thing

when he got to know us a little bit.

But that's when it started
with the, um...

..chasing around after practice
and tickling.

A lot of the times, you'd be
by yourself, 'cause I used to...

'Cause, um, home life
wasn't real good,

I actually liked doing the serving.

'Cause I used to serve most mornings

and I'd just hang out in church
all the time.

The boys had to practise their duties
once a week after school.

We'd go straight from school,
straight over to the vestry.

Altar boy practice for an hour.

Once you walked in, the first room
to your right was our room,

where we'd get changed.

I would have already, in some way,

surreptitiously touched them
and got a response,

which I thought
could go further, and...

..and then would say
something like...

..you know, touch there and say,

"Ooh, what have you got
hidden in there?" or something.

You didn't think nothing of it.

And then that slowly transgressed
from just a tickle

to a tickle and fondle downstairs
on the outside of your shorts,

and then it'd eventually lead
to, you know,

running his hand up your shorts
and things like that, and...

But, yeah, it sort of, um...

And that led up to...uh...

..down in the sacristy
with everybody.

I don't know what it was
that made him do that

at the end of the year, and it...

..oh, in that room, that vestry,
what he made us do.

And he made it into a game!

You know?

He made it into a big game!

What happened in the sacristy
one particular day with the group

led Scott and Gerard to go
to the police 20 years later.

Uh...bits and pieces at times. I...

Troy Grant did the interviews.

They had lived the impact
of his crimes for all these years.

But to then have to go through it
painstakingly,

minute detail by minute detail,
'cause it's so important, over...

It was hours.
These interviews went for hours.

Um...it takes
a massive leap of faith.

It takes an extraordinary level of
courage on their behalf to do that.

So, I'm just in complete
admiration of them.

And how intense were the interviews?

Oh, they were intense. Uh...

And what struck me, really,
was how vivid and accurate

their information
and their statements were,

to the point where
they would draw me maps

as we were doing the interview.

So, there's the official plans...
Oh, for the, um...

..that I matched
with the victims' drawings.

There's a door here.

And a door here.

And a door here.

And you come in the door here.

There was a bench
that went all the way round.

That's where the boys all sat?
Yeah.

And I was sit... I was here.
I was first.

He got us to sit up on the bench
with our pants down, basically,

and then started giving us all head.

Two, three, four, five...

You boys are all sitting here
on the bench?

There's the sixth boy.
Yep. Mm-hm.

Vincent Ryan went from me

to the next one, next one, next one,
next one, next one, next one.

That was the thing.

You weren't embarrassed about it,
'cause...all me mates are here.

And he was performing oral sex
on all of the boys?

Yep.

Yep.

Um, then... (SIGHS)

..then he's, uh...
he's actually got us to start, um...

..on the floor,
in between the two cupboards...

..in pairs to...

..get on hands and knees
and try and...

..have sex with...
anal sex with each other.

Um...

Yeah, which, obviously, being young
boys, it wasn't working real well.

Thank Christ. (LAUGHS)

"Thank Christ." (LAUGHS) It's...
Mmm.

Still there.
How ironic!

Yep.
(LAUGHS) How ironic.

I got behind Scott
and nothing happened,

so he got us to swap positions
and Scott got behind me and...

..two and one swapped round,

and three and four were sitting up
on the bench just...

..in awe.

Yeah, you know,
"Righto, you get down there

"and, righto, you push it in,"
and, you know, that sort of stuff.

And, "Yeah, how does that
sort of feel?"

And, you know, what, he's fumbling
around and stuff like that and...

And Vince has proceeded to...

.."Go down. Watch this,"

and he pulled his pants down
and masturbated in front of us.

It's unbelievable. How can it be?

I mean, I get moments when
I just am in this horrible place...

..of s...of seeing this sleazy old
man, in their eyes, touching them.

It's...it's horrific.

Why...why couldn't I see that?

I don't know the answer to that.

I don't think...
I don't think I'll ever know.

I reckon that was a tester

for something bigger and better
to come, to be honest.

In, again using a bit of retrospect,
"I think I'm just feeling out...

"..see how far I can get
with you guys."

And basically, it got a long way.

I mean, the only other thing was
for him...having anal sex with us.

That was probably about
the only thing left to, so...

In the trial, the crimes he committed
against Scott and Gerard

form part of the tendency evidence.

JUDGE: Just give me the date
of the interview. Is that the...

The prosecutor questions Ryan

on his answers to police
about that terrible day.

Just for the record,

that's the statement of facts
relating to the '66...

..sorry, the 1996, um...proceedings.

PATCH: Yes, there's actually
two documents which make up...

With the Form 1s included?

The Form 1 and the facts there
as well. Thank you.

Alright, so, you've got exhibit D.

We'll go to page two
of the facts sheet,

the second page in exhibit D,
please, Mr Ryan.

RYAN: Yes.

And it reads, "It is alleged

"in the sacristy of St Joseph's
Catholic Church at Merewether

"that the accused caused, through
provocation and encouragement,

"Gerard McDonald to attempt
anal intercourse with Scott Hallett,

"Hallett aged 10, McDonald aged 11."

Can you please go...to question 198

on page 26...

..of exhibit K, the 11 October 1995
ERISP, or interview.

Page 26...
Yeah.

..question 198
at the bottom of the page.

Tell me when you're there, please.
Oh, yeah, yeah.

OK.

That question reads,

"And it's alleged then,
after you told them to partner up,

"that Gerard McDonald
and Scott Hallett

"were partnered together.

"It's alleged that the boys
had their pants around their ankles

"at that stage."

And your answer was, "What do you
mean, partnered together?"

Question - "It's alleged that
you told them to pair up together."

Answer - "No, I don't...
I don't...I don't think so.

"I don't know, though."

Question -
"OK, you can't recall that?"

Answer -
"I don't recall the incident, no."

"Do you recall
this incident at all?"

Answer - "I think I'd remember that,

"and I never remember
an incident like that."

Question - "You can't recall that?"

"I can remember some incident

"of SAYING something
along those lines there,

"but they were revolted by it
and it never happened.

"There was never any...
never any attempt

"to get them to do anything
they didn't want to.

"They were just kids."

Alright, so, you can see there

at the answer to question 201
and then 202

that you said if that had happened,
you would remember it.

You see your answer there?
Yes.

That's a denial
that in fact it happened.

Do you agree with that?

I d...

I don't see it
as a complete denial, no,

because I can remember some incident

of saying something
along those lines there,

but they were revolted by it
and it never happened.

There was never any attempt

to get them to do anything
they didn't want to do.

So, it's not a complete denial.
It's a confused response.

You're denying that Gerard McDonald
ever placed his penis

between Scott Hallett's bum cheeks.

You're denying that part of it,
aren't you, in that answer?

Those answers?
That's right, isn't it, Mr Ryan?

It looks like it.
Thank you.

So, I suggest to you that when
you said those things to the police,

you were deliberately lying.

No, I WASN'T lying.

I was trying to tell the truth,
everything. It was a terrible day.

For goodness' sake!
Alright...

I did my best to answer
all those questions honestly.

My father died in 1991.

I wish I'd have told him.

Never said a word?

Too ashamed.

Too scared that I'd get the blame.

And people say,

"Oh, you know, you would have known
it was wrong.

"You just kept doing it." Well...

..when you've got a Catholic priest
sucking your dick,

what is right and wrong?

Like so many people
abused as children,

the effect on Gerard and his family
has been devastating.

Yeah, it was very hard. He...

Well, and especially when he drank.
Yeah. (SNIFFLES)

He just ran... Things like
ran out in front of cars and...

..got knives, and...

..just gone crazy, and...

A lot of times at events.

Like, we'd get invited
to things, and...

..it was embarrassing sometimes.

But he...yeah, we had to say,
"You need to get help."

And then that's when he said,
"Well, I..." (SNIFFLES)

"..I was...

"..I was mol...
molested by a priest."

I said, "Well, what do you mean?"
'Cause I was naive and...and stuff.

And I said, "What do you...
what do you mean?"

He said, "Well, a priest used to
suck me off all the...the time."

And I just went, "Yuck."

I'll give Max a brush, then.

Aww. Poor girl.

Eh? Getting old, aren't you?

And do you think the church has
done right by Gerard now?

No.

No. No.

Nup.

And do you think
they understand the extent...

No.

..understand what it is
that you're describing,

the life that you've had with him
and how hard it's been?

No, I don't think they do.
And I don't think they care.

Like, he's just...

They DON'T care.

I mean, if they cared,

why did they let...
why did it keep on happening?

And why...

They didn't care about kids. No.

Want some more?

There we go. Old mum.

Eh?

I don't think I could imagine...
a more serious crime

than for a Catholic priest
or religious, with a duty of care,

to sexually abuse
innocent children and adolescents.

And it does not end there,

because quite apart from
the trauma of the abuse...

..and the breach of trust...

..there is the silencing,

the blame, the shame,

the punishment, the guilt.

And all of those things
condemn the child or the adolescent

to a solitary confinement
of the mind.

And the result of that

is to cut them off
from all their social interactions

with family, friends, school...

..to the extent
that they cannot develop

what is absolutely essential right
through childhood and adolescence -

self-esteem, self-control,

self-confidence, self-identity.

So, is it any wonder

that they drift into life hopeless,

seeking solace in substance abuse,

and all too many
take their own lives

and leave their families
broken-hearted?

If you think it's inconceivable

that Vince Ryan could have been
sexually assaulting children

without the church's knowledge,

it is.

Early on in his long career
as a paedophile,

the church knew
he was a child molester.

A year before Ryan assaulted the boys
in the sacristy here,

his superior was told
he was molesting children.

That's when the cover-up
began in earnest.

Monsignor Paddy Cotter
was Ryan's superior.

CONGREGATION: Mary, Mother of God,
pray for our sins...

In 1974, the parents of two boys
aged six and eight

went to Cotter
with a serious complaint.

WOMAN: My youngest son, Mal,

I was putting him off to bed

and he was sitting on my lap
in the dining room

and he just told me
what had happened.

He said, "Father Ryan touched me
on my dicky bird,"

which was what we used to call it.

And I was just so shocked.

After he told me that,
I went into the bedroom

to see my other son, Gary,

and I said, "What happened today?"

I said, "You can tell me."
I said, "Mal's already told me."

And he just seemed embarrassed

and he pulled the sheet up
over his face.

And I said, "Don't worry about it."
I said, "You just tell me."

I wanted to have the stories,

but I just didn't want them
both together saying something.

And he told me
exactly what Mal had said.

The Edwards made
the difficult decision

to report Ryan to Father Cotter.

I said, "We've got a complaint
against Father Ryan."

That was the words I said then.

And I said, "He has been
interfering with my two boys.

"He's touched them."

And he said..."Oh!

"I knew something like this."
And then he stopped.

Cotter took me down... I believe
only the mother was there initially.

And then I think
the father came in -

he must have left the kids
in the car or something.

And he stood beside Father Cotter.

Father Cotter asked me to repeat
what I'd said, which I did.

And he said, "Nothing like that
happened. Nothing. Nothing."

I remember saying to the mother,
who was so angry...

The father was fairly quiet,
actually.

Uh...

I remember saying
that I hadn't touched them.

He denied everything. Denied it.

And I thought, "Why is he
denying it? He knows it's true."

And when Ryan said it didn't happen,
what did you do?

I couldn't believe it.
I thought, "Well, what CAN I do?"

Go to court,
put the boys on the stand?

I...I was...didn't know what to do.

What about Cotter that night
after the parents left?

She'd said that you had touched
her six-year-old son on his penis.

Do you recall the conversation
with Cotter after they left?

I don't remember any conversation
with him at all.

You mean there wasn't one?
I don't think so.

That's just the note on the top...

Troy Grant's investigation of Ryan

also focused on Cotter's cover-up
of the priest's crimes.

Do you remember
your interview with Cotter?

Do I remember it?
Mmm.

I'll never forget it. Yeah.

What was he like?
An arrogant prick.

Belligerent. Condescending.

Dismissive.

And, you know, on reflection...

I've been beating myself up
for years

that I didn't get to hold him
to account and charge him.

At the end-of-the-year
sports carnival in 1975,

Father Ryan's life
started to unravel.

After an altercation with a priest
on the sports field,

the boys who'd been abused
in the sacristy

decided to tell their mothers.

And that's when
we all got together and...

..the six of us that knew about it,
we all got together and...

.."Righto, we're all going home
to tell our mums."

Mm-hm.

It should have been the end of it,
shouldn't it?

It should have been the end of it.
He should have been bloody...

Gone to the police.
..charged.

Yep.
Straightaway.

But because he's a Catholic priest,
"Oh, we can't...we can't have that."

Where, in my eyes,
that's all they are.

The nuns helped cover it up.

Gerard's mother told the nuns
at the school.

Instead of calling the police,

the nuns passed the information
up the church's chain of command.

I don't expect them to know the law
and the indictments inside out,

but they know the difference
between right and wrong.

It says so in the Bible.

Sister Evelyn Woodward,
a trained psychologist,

told Ryan's superior,
Monsignor Cotter -

by then
the acting bishop of Maitland.

RYAN: Well, I remember
I was in the church just here.

So, I went out to greet him -
he'd been away on retreat.

And he said,
"Oh, I need to talk to you."

And he said that there's been
these accusations made, and...

And... (CHUCKLES) ...I've read since
that I was supposed to have...

..somewhere,
in a newspaper or somewhere,

that I was supposed to have
gone down on my knees.

And, I mean, that didn't happen.

That was actually in Evelyn
Woodward's account from Cotter.

Is it?
Yes.

Really?
That you...

Well, there you go.

..you knelt to Cotter's feet, wept
and admitted what you had done.

Well, I certainly broke down.
I...I immediately admitted it.

It was very straightforward.

He said, "You can't stay
in this parish any longer."

Uh...he said,
"You have to go home tonight."

Cotter's response to Ryan's admission
didn't involve the police.

He'd have been caught
between loyalty to the family

and loyalty to the law, I suppose.

When you say "family",
you mean the Catholic family?

Yes. Who didn't want it
publicised round the place.

Wanted to handle it
within the family themselves.

He said, "I have spoken
to Dr Piper,"

a local doctor,
since deceased, uh...

.."and he...he..."

And I think he said
Sister Evelyn Woodward,

'cause she was a psychologist,

"have arranged for you
to go to a psychiatrist,

"a priest psychiatrist,
at La Verna in Kew in Victoria."

MAN: "Dear Father Evans,
Father Ryan has been my assistant

"at St Joseph's Merewether
for two years.

"The problem that brings him
under your care

"became known to me a year ago.

"I decided to say nothing.

"Unfortunately, this was
a mistake on my part.

"The current incident
is more serious,

"involving altar boys,
and more than one.

"He is a very intelligent young
priest with a degree in canon law.

"I hope you will be able
to help him with his problem.

"Very sincerely yours, Right
Reverend Monsignor P.D. Cotter."

EVANS: (IN ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE) Surely
his blessing will come on us all.

EVANS: That was the last thing
I did in Australia

before I left for London.

My assessment of Vince Ryan -
it was not treatment -

is to assess
whether he was treatable.

I decided that he was a paedophile,

I decided that he was untreatable,

and furthermore,

even if I were remaining
in the priesthood and in Australia

and he were treatable,
I would not be doing it.

Why? Because it was
to cover up a crime.

Preventing scandal
and the reputation of the church -

these were powerful things.

Ryan was sent here
to the retreat house in Melbourne,

to get him out of the parish
and far away from the boys' parents.

How powerful was
that fear of scandal?

In the church?

Well, it was paramount,
because...you know?

I mean, the church
still was in a fortress.

In a bizarre act of impropriety,
before he left,

Cotter had a final task
for his paedophile priest to perform

at a local parish church.

He had organised for me to say
a mass on the Sunday morning

out at Wollombi,
a part of Cessnock Parish.

You've just admitted
to sexually molesting boys

and you're allowed
to go and give mass?

Mmm.

As an outsider,
that seems extraordinary.

Mmm.

Yeah. Well, it wasn't seen
as extraordinary then, I suppose.

But Cotter had no problem with you,
as a child molester, giving mass?

Apparently not. Apparently not.

Giving sacraments?
Apparently not.

Vincent Ryan is no longer allowed
to say mass in public.

But despite the decades
of crimes against children,

the church has not defrocked him.

What about for your victims,

who would say that you have given up
the right to be a priest?

Well, it's a duty
I've committed myself to.

It'd have to be
a very serious reason,

unless I am stopped by authority,
for me to make that decision.

And at this moment, I...
I don't see it. I can't.

Indue me, Domine, novum hominem,

qui secundum Deum creatus est
in iustitia et sanctitate veritatis.

Amen.

As his criminal trial
continues by day,

at home in the evening,
Ryan prepares to say mass.

May we be accepted by you, O Lord,

and may our sacrifice
in your sight this day

be pleasing to you, Lord God.

Wash me, O Lord, from my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.

.."For this is my body,
which will be given up for you."

Once ordained by a pope in Rome,

this convicted paedophile
speaks the solemn words...

May the blood of Christ
keep me safe for eternal life.

May the Lord be with everyone
and with my spirit.

May Almighty God bless us all,
the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.

I'll go now in peace
to love and serve the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

..in the eyes of the church,
still a Catholic priest.

Captions by Red Bee Media

Copyright Australian
Broadcasting Corporation