AUSTRALIA
7 News
By Annette Blackwell – AAP on August 3, 2016
An Anglican bishop who appointed and promoted pedophile clergy in a NSW diocese has repeatedly denied he knew anything about their sexual activities.
In an extraordinary day of evidence at a royal commission hearing into child sex abuse in the Anglican diocese of Newcastle, NSW, Bishop Alfred Holland who ran the diocese for 14 years to 1992 repeatedly denied any knowledge of extensive child sex abuse on his watch.
Bishop Holland said several times he could not recall ever being made aware of allegations against prolific pedophile Peter Rushton, whom he made archdeacon of Maitland.
He also could not recall ever hearing that there was a pedophile ring operating out of Anglican-run boys home St Alban’s at Cessnock, or being contacted by an assistant priest reporting that Rushton had abused his five-year-old son.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.