BishopAccountability.org

Archbishop Herft steps down amid child abuse inquiry

By Sophie Morris
West Australian
October 10, 2016

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/32852814/archbishop-herft-steps-down-amid-child-abuse-inquiry/#page1

[with video]

Roger Herft has stood aside as the Anglican Archbishop of Perth, after admitting he failed to act in a former role on repeated warnings about paedophile priests.

His decision to stand aside makes him one of the highest ranking casualties of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

He told the commission in August he had “let down” the community of Newcastle, when he served as Bishop there between 1993 and 2005.

The church described his sidelining as temporary but senior Anglicans were divided on whether he might return as Archbishop.

“I have decided to voluntarily stand aside from my role, function and duties as Archbishop of Perth and Metropolitan of Western Australia with immediate effect,” he wrote in a letter to the diocese today after returning from long service leave.

“I have taken this decision after much prayer, thought and consultation with my advisers to allow for the mission and ministry of the Diocese of Perth to flourish. I believe this is the appropriate decision while I focus my attention on the Royal Commission’s ongoing inquiry into the Diocese of Newcastle.”

The previous administrator of the Diocese, Braden Short, has been replaced by Bishop Kate Wilmot, who will lead the Anglican Church in Perth.

It was not clear under what circumstances Archbishop Herft might return to the role. Within two years he will have reached the church’s required retirement age of 70.

The commission’s hearings into the Diocese of Newcastle resume November 16, but it is unlikely to report on the case before late next year.

Archbishop Herft admitted to the Royal Commission in August he had been told three times that the defrocked Dean of Newcastle Graeme Lawrence had sexually abused children, yet failed to report the information to police.

He also told the commission he gave “incorrect” evidence when he testified previously that no one raised concerns with him about Lawrence.

In his statement today, he said he was “humbled by the courage and fortitude of survivors and victims of child sexual abuse”.

The most senior Anglican in Australia, Primate Philip Freier said his prayers were with Archbishop Herft and his family, the clergy and parishioners of Perth and Newcastle, and all those affected by clergy sexual abuse.




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