AUSTRALIA
Anglican Communion News Service
By ACNS staff
The Anglican Communion Safe Church Network (ACSCN) has welcomed steps that the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle of the Anglican Church of Australia is taking to address past cases of abuse within the Diocese.
The Diocese of Newcastle has launched the initiative Facing the past: Shaping a healthy future to address a “history of abuse within the Anglican Church in its area,” Bishop Gregory Thompson has announced.
In an open letter of apology, Bishop Thompson expressed “profound shame and regret that individuals within the Church harmed people and harmed them again when they came forward to speak of what had happened”.
He spoke openly about a culture in the Diocese that allowed bullying and abuse to happen, and the inadequate responses to survivors. He vowed that under his leadership there would be “no accommodation to cultures that minimise the conduct of perpetrators and diminish victims and survivors”.
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