Christchurch Cathedral could be stripped of bishops’ and deans’ photos after a child sexual abuse hearing

AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

Joanne McCarthy
27 Jan 2017

PHOTOS of Newcastle’s Anglican bishops and deans could be removed from Christchurch Cathedral after shocking evidence about church knowledge of child sex offenders in the Hunter region.

The Cathedral board will decide in February if photos, including of defrocked former Dean Graeme Lawrence and Archbishop Roger Herft – the highest-ranking Australian casualty of the church’s dark history of abuse – will be removed under a diocese renewal process.

Bishop Peter Stuart told parishioners that Cathedral picture walls of former bishops and deans were distressing for some survivors of abuse “because it appears as though church is continuing to honour people” who failed to protect children or caused them harm.

Although church buildings told the history of an area’s ministry it was important to consider whether the photos should be removed and the diocese’s leadership story told in another way, Bishop Stuart said in a letter to parishioners on January 19.

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