AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald
By JOANNE McCARTHY Nov. 21, 2013
FORMER Newcastle Anglican Dean Graeme Lawrence was ‘‘a very powerful man’’ who allegedly ‘‘protected’’ people including possibly a convicted child sex offender priest, the royal commission has been told.
The recently defrocked Mr Lawrence was ‘‘quite a powerful person who exercised influence over even bishops’’, former diocese professional standards director Philip Gerber said yesterday.
During his time as Dean, Newcastle Anglican Cathedral became ‘‘a place where people who had less than savoury pasts were congregating’’.
‘‘There was a lot of sort of low-level information that made me very uneasy about who and what was going on at the cathedral,’’ Mr Gerber said.
It was no surprise to Mr Gerber that sex offender priest Allan Kitchingman worshipped at the cathedral after he was released from jail in 2004 for crimes committed against a 13-year-old boy at North Coast Children’s Home at Lismore in 1975.
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