The Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese argued that notorious pedophile Priest Vince Ryan could not have abused an altar boy because the child was not a Catholic.
The diocese eventually settled with the victim, who came forward in 2020, after learning there were independent witnesses who were prepared to testify that the then 12-year-old had been an altar boy at St Joseph's Catholic Church, Cessnock in the early 1990s.
