By court reporter James Hancock - Updated Thu 6 Mar 2014, 2:53pm AEDT
A Jesuit priest and teacher at Saint Ignatius' College in Adelaide has admitted to child pornography offences. Father Stan Hogan, 69, has pleaded guilty to accessing child pornography and an aggravated count of possessing child pornography. The offences happened between April-June 2012 and last August at suburban Athelstone.
Hogan was suspended from the college after his arrest last August. A publication by the Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide said Hogan was ordained in 1976 and also taught at schools in Victoria and New South Wales.
He is to be sentenced in the Adelaide District Court, where there will be a further hearing next month. The Jesuits have issued a statement saying Hogan acted alone and has had no contact with the college since the time he was arrested.
Statement from the Jesuits
A Jesuit priest, Fr Stan Hogan, today has pleaded guilty in an Adelaide court to two criminal charges: the use of the internet to view and download child pornography and to possession of child pornography.
Fr Hogan was suspended from all duties at St Ignatius’ College, Adelaide, as soon as these matters were brought to the attention of Jesuit authorities last August, when Fr Hogan was arrested. Since that time he has been on bail living away from the school, under supervision and where he will continue to live until sentenced. He has been allowed no contact with the College nor anyone in the wider community. Fr Hogan acted alone and there is no suggestion that his crimes are connected with anyone else. The Province has co-operated with the police and fully supports the due application of the
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PHOTO: Stan Hogan admitted his offending (ABC News: James Hancock)[/caption]law. The welfare of all people served by ministries of the Australian Jesuit Province is paramount. Children in particular are owed special care and everything possible is done in our ministries to protect and nurture children at all times. Jesuits and lay friends and colleagues with whom Fr Hogan has worked are deeply shocked to learn of his crimes, which are an abuse of the children involved and a betrayal of them and of the wider community he was expected to serve. Child exploitation offences are serious crimes involving the sexual abuse of the children portrayed, and are morally repugnant. - Father Stephen Curtin, Provincial of the Jesuits (Source: ABC.net.au)
A Jesuit priest pleads guilty to offences against children
A Catholic priest in the Jesuit Order, Father David Rankin (now aged 79), is pleading guilty to historical acts of indecency on young boys in Sydney. The offences occurred in the 1960s when Rankin was a lay teacher before he joined the priesthood.
On 30 April 2014, Father Rankin (full name Gregory David Rankin) appeared in Sydney's Downing Centre District Court for pre-sentence proceedings. He confirmed his guilty plea.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on a later date.
According to court documents, David Rankin was a lay teacher at Northbridge Primary School in northern Sydney when he committed 11 acts of indecency on three boys in the 1960s.
The court documents said Rankin molested one boy after volunteering to tutor the 11-year-old after school in late 1963. The abuse continued at tri-weekly tutoring sessions the following year.
On one occasion, Rankin drove the boy to another school in Manly to commit an assault.
Rankin told the victim he loved him and gave him money on a number of occasions.
He swore the boy to secrecy, warning that he and the boy would both “get into big trouble” if the incidents were discovered.
About the same time, the offender molested two other boys during rehearsals for school musicals.
Both of those victims gave statements to police in 2012, leading to Rankin’s arrest.
The other victim told a number of family members of the abuse, but did not report it to police until 2009.
Footnote
Gregory David Rankin joined the Jesuits as a mature-age entrant in the early 1970s. The Jesuits are an Australia-wide organisation. In the Australian Catholic Directory, Reverend David Rankin, SJ, has been listed at Jesuit addresses in Melbourne (at the Jesuits' parish in Hawthorn), Sydney and Canberra. In some years he has been listed as living overseas (it is believed that his overseas locations included Canada and London).
According to a newspaper report, Father David Rankin spent some years in Canberra, most recently as a hospital chaplain.
In 2010, aged in his seventies, David Rankin was reported to be living in a Jesuit house in Canberra. On 13 October 2010 a Jesuit newsletter published this news item (under the heading "A trinity of jubilees"):
"On Sunday October 10 [in 2010], John Eddy, Frank Brennan and David Rankin celebrated significant anniversaries at the Jesuit residence in Yarralumla, Canberra.
"John Eddy, the doyen of the community who has spent most of his life as a Jesuit at the Australian National University in Canberra, celebrated his sixtieth anniversary as a Jesuit. David Rankin celebrated his fortieth anniversary as a Jesuit. Frank Brennan celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of his ordination as a Priest.
"Special guests at the celebrations included Australian Jesuit Provincial Fr Steve Curtin and the former Australian Prime Minister, Hon Kevin Rudd MP.
"The afternoon tea also offered guests the opportunity to see the renovations at the Yarralumla residence, which will enhance its value as a centre of ministry."
In April 2014, the Jesuits' Australian provincial-superior (Father Steve Curtin) told the media that David Rankin was removed from active ministry after the Jesuits learned of charges against him when he was arrested in August 2012.
Fr Curtin said David Rankin moved to a Jesuit community in Victoria where he is under supervision in compliance with his bail conditions.
In the mid-2013 edition of the Australian Catholic Directory, the Jesuit listings included:
"RETIRED - Rev. David Rankin SJ."
SOURCE: BRA
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