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LOCAL NEWS
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NOVEMBER 21 2012 WWW.NEWCASTLEPOST.COM.AU
PROUDLY INDEPENDENT PH: 49 610 310
“We’ve achieved it� Mother of abuse victim shares her family’s harrowing story TRICIA MOROSIN
LOCAL SERVICES A development application for a neighbourhood centre, which includes a medical centre at Aberglasslyn, was carried unanimously by councillors at last week’s Council meeting. In addition to the medical centre, the development application also includes plans for a small supermarket, chemist, bottle-shop, newsagent, cafÊ and two speciality stores to be built on McKeachies Drive in the new McKeachies Run subdivision.
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eacher-librarian Patricia Feenan always felt that one day she’d write a book. What she never imagined was the heartbreaking circumstances that would lead her to do so. Ms Feenan’s son, Daniel, was raped by Father James Patrick Fletcher and suffered other forms of sexual abuse by the paedophile priest dating from the late 1980s, when he was between 11 and 12-years-old. She has been campaigning for victims ever since. “People said, ‘You won’t get anywhere with this, don’t do this, you can’t, [it’s] the Catholic Church’...and I just chipped away at what I believed in and look what’s happened through a lot of people working for the same goal and now we’ve achieved it,� Ms Feenan said. Fletcher was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2004, but died after serving only 14 months of his sentence. Ms Feenan recorded her thoughts during his trial and has been writing about her experience ever since. Next month, these notes will be published in her fi rst book, ‘Holy Hell’. “I’m a bit over-awed,� Ms Feenan said of the attention the book is receiving. “I’ve never written a book before, of course, and it’s not the book I wanted to write, but it’s the one that needed to be written.� The foreword to ‘Holy Hell’ is penned by local whistleblower cop, Detective Chief Inspector, Peter Fox, who investigated Daniel’s case and whose explosive claims led to the Federal Government’s decision to hold a Royal Commission into child sexual abuse. “[Fox] has been very brave in what he’s said and it’s made a difference,� Ms Feenan said. Ms Feenan also wants people to remember the good priests during this time, including Bishop of Maitland and Newcastle, Bill Wright, who will attend the book launch alongside her son, Daniel, on December 6.
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ALL FOR THE KIDS Gifted students allowed to shine in Kurri Kurri PAGE 13
CRUEL BLOW Keeper stretchered off in clash with Phoenix Patricia Feenan holds ‘Holy Hell’, the book she penned about her son’s sexual abuse
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