AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald
By JOANNE MCCARTHY June 17, 2015
UP TO 30 perpetrators over four decades have molested children – including the children of priests – within the Anglican diocese of Newcastle, an emotional Bishop Greg Thompson said in an extraordinary interview after apologising to victims and the community on Wednesday.
Bishop Thompson marked his 500th day as head of the church in the Hunter by telling clergy ‘‘We can’t have mates looking after mates any more’’, and revealing some of the dark secrets being investigated by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
‘‘Some of our photos of clergy on the walls are going to be difficult to hang on the walls after the royal commission,’’ he said.
‘‘What is being revealed is the shadow lives of some.
‘‘They had this sense of self-entitlement that meant they had sexual relations with children as if that was a part of the role.’’
Bishop Thompson spoke of the shock he experienced after hearing ‘‘how things were done’’.
‘‘It told me it wasn’t just about bad apples, but about how the system failed the victims,’’ he said.
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