AUSTRALIA
The Age
Nick McKenzie, Richard Baker
Just after 10am on Sunday, inside Victoria’s oldest and busiest Catholic church, the congregation will hear something extraordinarily rare.
A senior church official will tell those seated in the pews at St Francis on Lonsdale Street that their one-time priest, Tom Knowles, has become the first in Australia to be defrocked for having a “long-term inappropriate sexual relationship” with a woman.
The church official will also say sorry to that woman in public.
“On behalf of the Australian Province of the Blessed Sacrament Congregation, I wish to apologise to Jennifer Herrick for the pain and suffering she experienced,” reads a copy of the apology, which has been obtained by Fairfax Media.
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