The congregation was told Father Joe, as he was known, would retire that day, after 37 years ministering to the Bayswater parish.

The senior administrative official in the Archdiocese of Melbourne, Vicar-General Bishop Tomlinson, made a special trip out to the church to deliver it.

He told Father Doyle's flock that the priest wanted no fanfare to mark the end of what Archbishop Denis Hart had called – only a few years earlier – his "remarkable service".

"We couldn't figure out why Father Joe would do that," a parishioner recalls, "but we admired him and believed it when we were told he had retired".

Father Doyle moved from the church and grounds of Our Lady of Lourdes primary school to new accommodation a few suburbs away, pensioned off with rental assistance and private medical insurance.

But he would continue to play a significant role in the lives of some former parishioners.

They still turned to him in times of need and feted him as a guest in their homes, believing he was a respected man of God.

The balding, bespectacled priest was known for exhibiting an energy beyond his years – he was 78 when he retired – regularly playing golf and making calls.

But the official explanation for his abrupt exit would stand uncontested for more than a decade, underpinned by the authority of senior Catholic figures.

Father Joseph Doyle, pictured with children in 1991, on his 40-year anniversary as a priest. Photo: Supplied

The true reason was covered up. Doyle had been found by the Melbourne Response to be a paedophile.

His victims were two young boys he'd molested in the 1970s.

Doyle was reported to the church's independent commissioner, Peter O'Callaghan QC, who found the claims proven in September 2005.

Archbishop Hart and Bishop Tomlinson were informed of the findings immediately but decided against telling the parish that their priest was a child sex predator.

The church would continue to keep the secret, even as Doyle became a major management problem.

He refused counselling and continued to pose as a priest despite explicit orders from the Vatican and Archdiocese that he stop.

Only when he was named in a recent Fairfax Media investigation would Doyle's parishioners finally learn the truth.

Outraged, many bombarded the Archdiocese with calls and emails wanting to know why they had been lied to.

On May 15, Archbishop Hart issued an open letter to the Bayswater congregation, which was read out during mass.

It noted that Doyle had actually "resigned" after the allegations were made, and following the independent commissioner upholding the complaint, Doyle had been stripped of his ability to act as a priest in 2005.

"I acknowledge and regret that the failure to inform the Parish of the reasons for his resignation has caused pastoral confusion and distress," Archbishop Hart wrote.

But the statement has done little to placate former parishioners and the parents of children who attended Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School during Doyle's tenure.

"It's taken 11 years to tell us. That's disgusting," one parent told Fairfax Media. Another said:

"I feel sick to my stomach that I let him into my home around my daughter.

"Even when he left the parish I still saw him.

"I can not believe I was not told about him – as parents we have the right to know that our children are safe."

The Archdiocese says Doyle, who lives in private rental accommodation in a Melbourne suburb, has not been subject of another finding by the commissioner since 2005.

Doyle, who founded the Bayswater parish in 1968, was a regular fixture at the primary school and was known for taking the children of parishioners on weekend outings.

A newspaper article from 1976 says he was presented with $3500 as a gift so he could take an overseas trip as a reward for his dedication to the parish.

"The [children] thanked Fr. Doyle for training them at football, for spending so much time with them during their playtime and Saturdays," the story said.

A source close to the abuse scandal has described an incident in 1996 when a woman told a Melbourne priest her husband had been sexually abused by Doyle as a child and that there were "other victims".

It is unknown whether the allegation was ever formally reported to the church.

Doyle flouted the Archbishop's ban repeatedly over the years, assisted by the silence of church leaders and the ignorance of parishioners about his true status.

Under canon law, priests found to have committed abuse are banned from engaging in any public ministry – conducting mass, last rites, blessings, weddings or funerals – it's called a "withdrawal of faculties".

At the request of Archbishop Hart, Doyle was also subjected to a "precept" order by the Vatican, which allows the church to set conditions on an abusive priest which limit where he can live and who he has contact with.

This makes one incident involving Doyle from 2012 particularly difficult to understand.

More than six years after he was banned, Doyle conducted mass alongside Bishop Tomlinson  in Mansfield, posing together for photographs after the service.

Bishop Tomlinson has declined to comment on the incident.

But despite several complaints,  the Archdiocese has continued to support Doyle.

"Joe has been pushing the boundaries. I think he is in denial about the seriousness of what has happened and I suspect that this playing down of the seriousness may be shared by some of his confreres," Archbishop Hart wrote in a 2013 letter obtained by Fairfax Media.

"I have acted with the strongest resolve in these matters but Joe has been particularly difficult."

Doyle would be "spoken to" again in 2015 following another complaint about inappropriate behaviour.

The Archdiocese has declined to explain why it made the decision to not tell the Bayswater parish about the real circumstances of Doyle's departure in 2005.

"I deeply regret and sincerely apologise that parishioners were not informed," Archbishop Hart said in a written statement to Fairfax Media.

"Our processes have since been revised and I'd be confident a situation such as what occurred at Bayswater will not occur again."

Church policy is now to immediately notify a parish when a priest is placed on "administrative leave".

But there is reason to believe there are a number of parishes in Victoria in which church officials have never admitted to the flock that they were once under the care of a known paedophile.

Doyle is one of 84 priests that are the subject of one or more claims or substantiated complaints of child sexual abuse under the Melbourne Response.

The identity of at least 15 have been confirmed because of convictions in criminal courts.

Support groups such as Broken Rites have named others after victims were willing to come forward.

But there remains an unknown number – like Father Joseph Doyle – whose identity has not been revealed by the church because the decision to remove them was made years ago or the perpetrator is now dead.

Shane Healy, director of media and communication for the Archdiocese, said the question of informing these parishes would be made on a "case by case" basis.

cvedelago@theage.com.au