HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong's Roman Catholic Church said a priest it found guilty of sexually abusing children had left the territory and denied trying to cover up his offences.
Father Lawrence Lee, chancellor of the Catholic diocese in Hong Kong, said in an interview that a second priest had been found guilty by the church.
Lee said neither priest, out of six alleged to have sexually abused as many eight children over the past 30 years, had been reported to Hong Kong police following the incidents and rejected suggestions of a cover-up.
"The families refused to make public the cases and did not report to police because they wanted to safeguard the dignity of the victims," Lee said late on Tuesday.
"They asked the church only to take appropriate action against offenders, and the reason the church did not report to police was because the families did not want to," he said.
No charges have been filed but police, who are investigating all six cases, have not ruled out charges if they find enough evidence.
The allegations in Hong Kong come as a sexual abuse scandal that rocked the Roman Catholic Church in the United States reverberates throughout the world, turning up accusations the church merely transferred paedophile priests to other parishes.
The Hong Kong church, for years a strong and vocal champion of rights in this former British colony, is under strong public pressure to explain why it never reported its cases to the police.
Lee hinted the church was likely to report future cases of sex abuse to police. "It will be a future direction. We might take this approach," he said.
CHURCH FOUND TWO PRIESTS GUILTY
Lee said the church has conducted internal investigations into only two cases, finding both priests guilty.
One of the two was suspended from public ministry, underwent therapy and was later reassigned to Australia, Lee said.
The other whom the church found guilty, and later defrocked, was a 42-year-old arrested last Saturday in connection with an investigation into the indecent assault of a boy in 1991. He was released on bail on Sunday without being charged.
Of the four remaining cases, three only came to light in the past week through the media, or in reports to the church or police.
Police said the sixth case allegedly occurred in 1974, but the victim, who was a girl at that time, did not report the case to the church until 2000. Lee said the priest involved had since been recalled to his home country.
DAMAGE DONE
Lee said the church's image was already sullied and it would have to implement reforms to repair the damage.
"We will formulate guidelines for our staff and priests in parishes and elsewhere to make them aware of child abuses that occurs from time to time in church circles," Lee said.
"We also want to have courses and seminars to promote rights of minors and protect them from all abuses."
"On the organisational level, we want complaints to be centralised and handled properly, so there will be no negligence. We want investigations and follow-up action taken."