Doyle says he won't quit

THE Catholic Archbishop of Hobart Adrian Doyle says he will not resign over his mishandling of sexual-abuse complaints against a senior cleric.

He again acknowledged he should have stood Monsignor Philip Green down immediately after his admission in August last year that he had abused two boys.

"I will not resign over this matter, because to do so would almost be taking the easy way out," Archbishop Doyle said yesterday.

"I am determined to learn from the mistakes that have been made and to ensure that any future complaints are dealt with immediately and transparently."

His comments were sparked by the Nine Network's A Current Affair on Friday night, when he was shown denying there were any other complaints against Monsignor Green -- although he knew Monsignor Green had admitted assaulting another boy.

The Coalition for Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse called for Archbishop Doyle's resignation yesterday, as did one of the two victims who have gone public, Drew Murray, a ship's captain.

Captain Murray said Archbishop Doyle could no longer command the Catholic Church because he could no longer be trusted.

Captain Murray was abused by Monsignor Green in Tasmania from the age of 13 to 23.

"He knew about my case and he knew about Derrum's case [Derrum Kearns], and he knows about others as well," he said.

"He's not looking after anyone but these damned pedophile priests."

Archbishop Doyle said yesterday his concerns about confidentiality had caused him to be hesitant about other complaints.

"Confidentiality, historically, has been normal practice in legal or mediated settlements," he said. "I will continue to respect confidentiality where I am asked to.

"However, it no longer will be a condition in such dealings."

Nevertheless, Archbishop Doyle rejected many key points in both the A Current Affair segment and The Saturday Mercury yesterday of the crisis engulfing the Archdiocese of Hobart.

They include that:

The church failed to respond to a request by Hobart CIB two months ago for Monsignor Green to return from Sydney for interview.

Archbishop Doyle said two detectives saw him on August 14 to alert him to investigations they were making, saying they might need his help to speak to Monsignor Green, but he heard nothing more.

• He wrote to the Nine Network in an attempt to hose down A Current Affair's report, before its first one went to air in August.

  Archbishop Doyle denies this and released a copy of a letter he had written to Nine on October 2 -- after it went to air -- in which he said he would not be interviewed a second time because his trust had been betrayed the first report.