Anglicans ban five priests on sex counts
Brendan O'Malley, Amanda Gearing and AAP23 Apr 03
THE Anglican Church has stripped five Queensland priests of their licences to preach after investigating them for sexual misconduct.
Another priest was banned for non-sexual misconduct and two church officials have been dismissed for inappropriate sexual behaviour.
The church made the admissions ahead of a long-awaited report into its past handling of sex abuse allegations which was expected to be handed to Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane Phillip Aspinall today.
He has not yet decided if he will release the report which has been written by Peter O'Callaghan, QC, and University of South Australia Emeritus Professor of child development Freda Briggs.
But it was expected that if he did agree to release it, the findings would be made public within two to three weeks.
Dr Aspinall commissioned an inquiry almost a year ago after allegations that his predecessor Peter Hollingworth, now the Governor-General, had ignored complaints of abuse in the church schools and the community.
The allegations followed a civil court case in which a former Toowoomba Preparatory School student was awarded more than $800,000.
The court found both the school and the church had failed in their duty of care.
At least one of the priests who had his licence withdrawn was believed to have been named in the O'Callaghan-Briggs report.
But the church said the withdrawal of licences was not related to the report findings and came as a result of new protocols put in place by Dr Aspinall.
Under the protocols, allegations of sexual abuse were immediately referred to police for investigation.
Although the priests retained their holy orders they were not allowed to preach.
One of the priests, suspected of molesting a mentally retarded youth, had since been sacked and had moved to a Darling Downs town.
An angry Toowoomba parishioner told The Courier-Mail that the man was temporarily appointed to the parish by Dr Hollingworth over the objections of parishioners.
A spokesman for Dr Hollingworth said the Governor-General would not comment on that matter and would not comment on the report until it was publicly released.
Justice Minister Rod Welford said the church should "seriously consider" releasing the findings.
"Whether the report is ultimately released publicly is a matter that the church has to seriously consider," he said.
Queensland Chief Justice Paul de Jersey said he would be "extraordinarily surprised" if the report was not released either substantially or in full.
Brisbane barrister Tim Carmody, who advised Dr Aspinall on legal problems facing the inquiry, expected its findings to be broad but guarded.
"I doubt that the inquiry has any real capacity to get to the bottom of individual cases and identify people who have been responsible for any abuse in the past," he said.
| © Queensland Newspapers |
"Anglicans ban five priests on sex counts," The Courier Mail, Brisbane, April 23 2003
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