A RETIRED Catholic priest has been charged with eight counts of indecently assaulting two boys in the 1960s in a police investigation that has already charged six other priests with child sexual offences in the Hunter Valley region of NSW.
The 83-year-old Glenbrook man was served with court attendance notices through his legal representative, based in Penrith, about midday yesterday.
Police will allege he indecently assaulted two boys younger than 16 on eight separate occasions while he was teaching at a school in Hamilton in the "early to mid 1960s".
He is due to appear in Newcastle Local Court on February 23.
Strike Force Georgiana was established in March 2008 to investigate allegations of abuse by various Catholic Church members in the Newcastle region.
Seven priests and two others connected with the church have been charged in the operation.
Earlier this month, a clergyman was charged with attempting to conceal the sexual abuse of a child by a fellow clergyman, only the second such charge in Australian history .
The priest, 81, will appear in the same court on January 29.
The first man in Australia charged with concealing similar offences, former priest Tom Brennan, died of cancer in October last year before his case reached court.
Last month, police arrested an 80-year-old man and charged him with three counts of indecent assault allegedly committed against two victims in the Hunter Valley in the 1960s and 70s.
A separate investigation into the possible sexual abuse of a boy of 14 was opened late last year after the Anglican Church referred its own allegations relating to four Anglican priests to NSW police.
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