Sydney, Australia, Oct 8, 2010 / 00:52 am
Media outlets twisted the story of Bl. Mary MacKillop to say she was excommunicated for exposing a priest who sexually abused children, the postulator for her canonization cause is charging. He feared the misleading coverage was an attempt to undermine the Church and distract the public before Australia’s first official saint is canonized on Oct. 17.
ABC Online and Fairfax newspapers in Australia last month said that she was excommunicated from the Church in 1871 because she had exposed a Kapunda priest’s abuse of children in South Australia. The claims were based on remarks made by Fr. Paul Gardiner in a documentary made for ABC TV’s “Compass” program.
Both Fr. Gardiner and Rose Hesp, the executive producer of “Compass,” deny they made such an inference in the program, which airs on Sunday.
Fr. Gardiner, chaplain of the Mary MacKillop Penola Centre, said the claims were false. According to The Australian, he is considered Australia’s foremost authority on the history of the saint-to-be and was postulator for her canonization cause.