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Bishop leading charge against child sexual abuse admits he too was a victim
ABC News
As Newcastle's Anglican bishop Greg Thompson urges his diocese to come to terms with the church's poor handling of child sexual abuse, he has revealed that he too was a victim of abuse. Members of the Synod took part in an historic vote at the weekend, making a formal apology from the Newcastle Diocese, acknowledging it actively discouraged those who reported abuse. Synod members watched video interviews of two Newcastle priests recounting harrowing stories of their own experience of being sexually abused as children. Earlier this year, Bishop Thompson marked 500 days in the top job, fighting tears as he apologised to victims for past church cover-ups and the poor handling of complaints about child sexual abuse. This morning Bishop Thompson revealed to 1233 ABC Newcastle's Aaron Kearney he has been making his own journey as a survivor. "Well, I'm both a bishop, but also a survivor," he said. "I'm someone who has also faced that journey. "I'm working through that personally, and as someone who is committed to being with people, I do that out of my experience and out of a deep longing for people to be loved." Aaron Kearney: You joined the church that did wrong by you? "Yes." AK: Can you explain that? "No, it's the deep mystery of knowing you want a safe harbour, but not having a safe harbour. "But knowing there are good people in the midst of the shadows, and learning to believe and learning to trust." AK: Do you feel you're healing? "I'm on the journey." Bishop Thompson said he wanted to assure survivors that the church was now ready to listen to their stories. "We're trying to do our very best and our resolution at the weekend is simply an important watershed, a watershed that is galvanising the whole of our church."
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