I was abused by clergy: Anglican Bishop Greg Thompson tells of abuse as 19-year-old

AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

October 26, 2015

Joanne McCarthy

Anglican bishop Greg Thompson has spoken about being groomed by an Anglican bishop and senior clergyman in the 1970s and later sexually abused, after an historic diocese apology on Sunday for the “shameful” treatment of abuse survivors in the past.

The Newcastle bishop said he was an impressionable 19-year-old when the two men singled him out, made him feel special and used his strong faith and their shared religion as the cover to sexually abuse him.

His allegations against the two men, now dead, were revealed to NSW Police and the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse earlier this year.

Bishop Thompson said he did not reveal the information before the diocese synod at the weekend because he wanted the vote on an historic apology to be a genuine response from clergy and senior diocese parishioners, and not a response to him personally.

“I couldn’t have spoken about the need for an apology if they’d known I was a survivor,” Bishop Thompson said.

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