AUSTRALIA
The Morning Bulletin
Jessica Grewal 20th Nov 2013
AFTER apologising for his failure to handle child abuse claims, Grafton’s outgoing Anglican bishop Keith Slater chose as his replacement a man who for 10 years helped run the home where untold horrors were alleged to have been committed.
The revelation came yesterday, the second day of an inquiry into the Grafton diocese’s response to allegations of sexual abuse at Lismore’s North Coast Children’s Home.
Former acting registrar Anne Hywood was questioned for much of the day about her role in the events leading up to former Grafton Bishop Slater’s exit earlier this year.
She told of how she had become so concerned about the way in which Bishop Slater and then registrar and Clarence Valley councillor Pat Comben had handled allegations of sexual abuse at the home that she wrote to senior clergy members in Sydney.
She believed the pair managed claims on their own for many years, without complying with the professional standards protocol and had looked at the situation from a legal position rather than the obligation of the church.
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