(AUSTRALIA)
The Klaxon [Sydney, New South Wales, Australia]
July 4, 2025
By Anthony Klan
The Catholic Church has made misleading claims about having reported to authorities allegations of abuse against one of its most senior figures.
The church’s powerful Sydney Diocese on Tuesday said Bishop Richard Umbers was the subject of a “claim of historical abuse”, that he had stood aside, and that it had “notified the relevant authorities”.
“In accordance with its obligations, the Archdiocese has notified the relevant authorities of the complaint,” it said in an official statement Tuesday.
“The NSW Police have confirmed there is no active investigation at this time,” the church said.
Yet The Klaxon can exclusively reveal the church has not notified NSW Police.
“NSW Police is not aware of this matter,” a spokeswoman said.
NSW Police told The Klaxon the church had not notified them, or contacted them in any way, about the abuse allegations.
There was no possibility of there being any investigation, because NSW Police were entirely unaware of the abuse allegations.
Umbers denies the allegations.
Given the seriousness of the matter, and the Church’s official statement, The Klaxon double-checked with NSW Police again last night.
“Has the church contacted NSW Police about this matter?” asked The Klaxon.
“No they have not,” a NSW Police spokesman confirmed.
Umbers is Sydney Archdiocese “Auxiliary Bishop”, second only to Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher.
Umbers was appointed Auxiliary Bishop in 2016 “under Archbishop Anthony Fisher”, to co-run the “governance and pastoral care of the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney”.
The Sydney Diocese and Fisher refused to respond to repeated requests for comment.
The Sydney Diocese “Safeguarding and Ministerial Integrity Office”, and its director, Karen Larkman, also refused to respond to questions from The Klaxon.
Umbers, 54, is a senior member of the Catholic Church’s internal hard-line group Opus Dei, and is reportedly the first Opus Dei member to become Bishop in Australian history.
The Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney website has a section titled “reporting abuse”.
“The law requires serious crimes to be reported to the police and the policy of the Archdiocese is to report all allegations of sexual abuse to the police,” it states.
The Sydney Archdiocese uploaded the statement regarding Umbers to a relatively obscure part of its website on Tuesday.
“In conformity with the Archdiocesan protocol for managing safeguarding complaints and relevant legislation, Bishop Umbers has agreed to stand aside from public ministry while this allegation is investigated,” it states.
The terse, six-sentence statement says the Archdiocese of Sydney “has received notice of a civil claim of historical abuse”.
“Auxiliary Bishop Umbers has been identified as the subject of this claim,” it states.
“Bishop Umbers emphatically denies this allegation”.
Umbers was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney in June 2016, becoming one of “Australia’s youngest bishops”.
The St Paul of the Cross Catholic Primary School in Dulwich Hill, in Sydney’s inner-west, names Umbers as its “Bishop in Residence”.
Tuesday’s statement does not appear under the “latest news” or “safeguarding and child protection” sections of the church’s website.
Near the bottom of one of two pages dedicated to Umbers’ biography, it states that Umbers is “currently on leave”.
“Bishop Umbers is currently on leave. Please click here for a statement from the Vicar-General,” it states, leading to the six-sentence statement.
It does not state what the “historical abuse” allegations are, where the abuse is alleged to have occurred, or when it was alleged to have occurred.
Umbers, a “priest of the Opus Dei”, has worked in multiple church positions in Sydney since 2003, his biography states.
“Since 2003, Bishop Richard worked pastorally as a school and university chaplain at a number of NSW colleges,” it states.
He was chaplain of Warrane College, Redfield College, Creston College, Kenvale College and the Nairana Study Centre”.
Redfield College, an “independent Roman Catholic” all boys school in Sydney’s outer north-west Hills District, did not respond to a request for comment.
The Nairana Study Centre, also in the Hills District, is “an educational centre helping boys and young men…to grow in character, competency, maturity and concern for others,” its website states.
The centre is operated by the “Opus Dei Prelature” and its activities are “inspired by the teachings of St Josemaria Escriva, founder of Opus Dei”, it states.
Opus Dei, officially called the “Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei” is a small but powerful organisation within the Catholic Church.
Its members are required to abide by strict conservative teachings.
Unlike others in Catholic Church, its members are not appointed based on their geographic location, and it has been described as a “church within a church”.