Philip Wilson

Philip Edward Wilson (2 October 1950 – 17 January 2021) was an Australian Roman Catholic prelate who was the eighth Archbishop of Adelaide from 2001 to 2018.

In 1974, he received a Bachelor of Theology degree from the Catholic Institute of Sydney.

Following his ordination in 1975, Wilson's first posting was to the parish of East Maitland, New South Wales, where he served as an assistant priest.

He was alleged to have been told in 1976 by a victim who had been sexually abused four years earlier.

In 1977–78 he undertook studies in religious education in New York City.

In 1978, he returned to Australia where he was appointed Director of Religious Education in the Diocese of Maitland (now the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle).

After being appointed parish priest of Maitland in 1983, he was promoted to vicar general, Diocesan Management and Administration in 1987.

The first case originated in 1985, when Father Dennis McAlinden, a priest in that diocese, was alleged to have sexually assaulted two girls.

Wilson, the diocese's vicar general at the time, was sent to speak to parents at the school where the assault was alleged to have taken place.

From 1990 to 1995, Wilson studied canon law at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he received a Licentiate of Canon Law, and was made a Prelate of Honour by Pope John Paul II.

From 1996 to 2001 Wilson was bishop of the Diocese of Wollongong, where he gained a reputation as a "healing bishop" for handling child-abuse scandals.

In 1996, Wilson was appointed to replace Bishop William Murray as Bishop of Wollongong, and on 10 July he was consecrated by Cardinal Edward Clancy.

Aged 45, Wilson became the youngest Catholic bishop in Australia.

During his time as Bishop of Wollongong, Wilson was tasked with dealing with an alleged culture of inadequate responses to child abuse by clergy within the diocese.

Wilson's predecessor, Bishop Murray, had been criticised during public hearings of the Wood Royal Commission for not acting on allegations of sexual misconduct within the diocese and had admitted publicly that he did not know how to deal with them.

Upon the delivery of the findings of the Wood Commission, Wilson issued a formal apology to the victims of abuse by clergy within the diocese.

In November 2000, Pope John Paul II appointed Wilson to the position of coadjutor archbishop of the Archdiocese of Adelaide, in anticipation of the retirement of Leonard Faulkner, who was Archbishop of Adelaide at the time.

Aged only 50, Wilson's appointment made him the youngest Catholic archbishop in Australia.

The announcement of Wilson's promotion brought praise from public figures in Wollongong, with the Lord Mayor saying he had "...played a leading role in restoring the credibility of the Catholic Church here."

Archbishop Faulkner described him as "a very pastoral man and a man of the people and very gifted academically".

Wilson's welcome Mass, held at Adelaide's St Francis Xavier's Cathedral on 1 February 2001, was the first Mass in Australia to be broadcast on the internet, recording a reported 40,000 views.

Wilson spent most of 2001 learning about the archdiocese while acting as coadjutor, and was installed at a Mass on 3 December, which was attended by about 35 bishops, more than 200 priests and the Governor of South Australia, Marjorie Jackson-Nelson.

He celebrated Mass for the first time at St Francis Xavier's Cathedral on 9 December 2001.

In 2002, Wilson became the first Australian archbishop to be invited to address a session of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The session was held in the wake of an emergency meeting between American bishops and Pope John Paul II regarding the sex-abuse crisis within the Church.

Wilson was selected to address the conference because of his experience dealing with clerical crimes while bishop of Wollongong.

He was President of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference from 2006 to 2010.

In May 2010, Wilson came under scrutiny for his handling of charges of clerical sexual abuse in two cases in the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle.

In 2018 Wilson was at first convicted, but then acquitted on appeal, of failing to report in 2004 allegations of child sexual abuse against another priest when he was an assistant parish priest in East Maitland, New South Wales in 1976.

After the conviction but before the acquittal, he resigned as archbishop and commenced serving his sentence under home detention.

In 2018, Wilson was charged, convicted and later acquitted on appeal of concealing child sex abuse.

While awaiting sentencing, Wilson stepped aside from his duties as archbishop in late May 2018.

On 3 June 2018, Wilson's duties were assumed by Gregory O'Kelly, Bishop of Port Pirie, South Australia.

Wilson submitted his resignation to Pope Francis on 20 July, following conviction for failure to report child sexual abuse.

Its acceptance was announced on 30 July 2018.

His conviction was overturned by the District Court of New South Wales in December 2018.

In September 2019 the fourth previously unreleased volume of the 2014 Special Commission of Enquiry into allegations of cover-up of sexual abuse claims in the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle commissioned by Margaret Cuneen SC found that Archbishop Wilson was an "unsatisfactory and unimpressive witness" and that he gave evidence the commissioners considered to be "untruthful", "self serving and implausable".

Wilson was born in Cessnock, New South Wales, to Joan and John Wilson.

He was the eldest of five children and received his primary and secondary education at St Patrick's Primary School in Cessnock and St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill.

By his mid-teens, Wilson had decided to enter the priesthood, and on his completion of high school, at the age of 18, he entered St Patrick's Seminary, Manly.