A 69-year-old Catholic priest, Father Stanislaus Hogan, has been dragged to court after the police found 1555 child pornography images in his bedroom at St Ignatius College in Adelaide where he worked.
His main interest was in images of boys in the low-to-mid teens, the very age range of children at the school where he was employed, Daily Mail reports.
More than 70 percent of the images were classed in the least serious category involving no sexual activity, but five images and videos were in category five, the most serious.
Hogan, who previously taught at Xavier College in Melbourne and St Aloysius college in Sydney was said to have struggled to reconcile his sexuality with his Jesuit beliefs.
St Aloysius college in Sydney where Father Hogan taught
A psychologist said Hogan had previously suffered with alcohol problems and depression, which were directly related to his struggle to reconcile his sexuality with his ethical and religious beliefs.
According to his lawyer, Sophie David, Father Hogan, had done a lot of good in his life but he has now lost his teaching career and his good reputation had been ‘indelibly stained’.
She said Father Hogan has made his intention clear that he’d apply to be released from his vows on August 14, while also pleading with the court not to send her client to jail but to impose a suspended jail term.
However, the prosecutor, Scott Swain said such a sentence would be ‘manifestly inadequate’.
Father Hogan pleaded guilty to an aggravated count of possessing child pornography and a count of using a carriage service to access child pornography at Athelstone between April 20 and June 10 2012.
Hogan, whose bail was continued, will be sentenced on a later date.