AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail
Facing his flock: Hillsong pastor Brian Houston defends not reporting his paedophile father to police in address to his congregation
By AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS and DANIEL PIOTROWSKI and LILLIAN RADULOVA FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA
In his first sermon since testifying about his father’s sexual abuse, Hillsong’s senior pastor Brian Houston defended his lack of action upon finding out his father was a paedophile.
Mr Houston told the congregation of thousands at Baulkham Hills in New South Wales on Sunday that he did not approach police because Frank Houston’s victim, named AHA, did not want to prompt an investigation into the abuse.
‘You had a situation where this was the first time I had ever heard about my father’s abuses,’ Mr Houston said to the huge crowd, according to The Daily Telegraph.
‘There was a victim, a survivor, who was adamant he did not want a police investigation and he didn’t want a church investigation.
The Hillsong leader also suggested that no other church leaders advised him to approach police about the abuse allegations, despite also being informed of the claims.
‘So, I genuinely believed at the time, by the way no one gave me any advice to counter this, that if he wanted to go to police, he was 36, he could,’ Mr Houston said.
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