HOBART (TASMANIA, AUSTRALIA)
ABC News
September 8, 2017
By Stephen Pigram
A controversial plaque on Hobart’s St Mary’s Cathedral featuring a former Catholic priest convicted of sex offences will be removed after victims of child abuse called for it to be taken down.
The artwork, from the 1980s and attached to an external wall of the cathedral, depicts the late Philip Green, who held the title of monsignor.
In 2004, Green pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting a former altar boy and was given a three-month suspended prison sentence.
On Thursday, the Archdiocese of Hobart said it had “no immediate plans” to remove the plaque, which also honours former archbishop Sir Guilford Young.
But Tasmanian Catholic Archbishop Julian Porteous has since ordered that it be taken down.
Former Catholic priest Julian Punch, who said he was also assaulted by Green, publicly called for the removal of the plaque in his book, Gay With God.
He welcomed the announcement, but also said it should have been removed years ago.
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