AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald
12 Aug 2016
FOR the past two weeks, the Hunter public has heard graphic and often shocking details of sexual abuse of children by priests of the Anglican diocese of Newcastle.
Other actions, while perhaps not illegal, are nonetheless hard to reconcile given the role of the church in its devotion to the spiritual and pastoral well-being of its flock.
As its title suggests, this Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is more concerned with the ways that allegations of abuse were historically handled, than with the detail of the allegations themselves.
That said, the commission has established that at least 30 cases of child sexual abuse by priests were known to the diocese. It has also become clear that senior figures in the diocese had ample knowledge of the misdeeds of its clergy, at the time their crimes or moral failings were committed, or very soon after. Unfortunately, it was not until the current director of professional standards, Michael Elliott, began in 2009 at the behest of business manager John Cleary that the diocese did anything to clear the sexual skeletons from its closet.
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.