Interview: Newcastle Herald journalist Joanne McCarthy; Reporter Joanne McCarthy from the Newcastle Herald helped expose the Catholic Church's protection of paedophile priests. She speaks to Emma Alberici about the decision to charge Archbishop of Adelaide Philip Wilson with covering up the sexual abuse of children in the Hunter Valley

• Published in: Lateline - Australian Broadcasting Corporation
• Main Author: Alberici, Emma
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sydney Australian Broadcasting Corporation 17.03.2015
• Subjects: Alberici, Emma; Fletcher, Jim; McCarthy, Joanne; Wilson, Philip

The bishop - Bill Wright is his name - wrote a piece actually in the diocese magazine only a couple of months ago and it was about the Herald. And he wasn't happy with the Herald and me: that we weren't giving the Church a fair go, that we were being less than transparent. We weren't being even-handed. And then there was a list of my sins that were recorded and the Herald's sins and... The part in the piece that I did get... I mean, I laughed when I read it. And I mean honestly: I laughed because it was like, "Oh, for heaven's sake." The part where I stopped laughing is when the Bishop referred to "the usual suspects" and the people that he was referring to as "usual suspects": I can name them because they've named themselves. They are either victims of child sexual abuse or, in one case, the mother of a victim - or two mothers, actually. Now, Bishop Bill Wright is a member of the Church's Truth, Justice and Healing Council. I don't think it's at all appropriate for any senior member of the Catholic Church to be referring to victims and family members as "the usual suspects" because those people have the... what's the word? Believe that they should be able to speak on subjects.