AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald
JOANNE MCCARTHY
7 Sep 2016
NEWCASTLE Christchurch Cathedral’s parish council has been sacked, and senior Anglicans have been stood down, after the royal commission heard evidence of “coordinated opposition” to Bishop Greg Thompson following public statements that he was sexually abused by a bishop.
In a statement on Wednesday the diocese confirmed Dean of Newcastle Stephen Williams had “stood people down from leadership roles in the liturgy”, and Bishop Peter Stuart, on behalf of Bishop Thompson, had dissolved the cathedral parish council.
The action was taken in consultation with Newcastle Anglican diocesan council.
It came after explosive evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse sitting in Newcastle, where commission chair Justice Peter McClellan accused solicitor and former diocesan lawyer Robert Caddies of leading “coordinated opposition” to Bishop Thompson.
This followed a complaint from a group of senior Anglicans to the royal commission in April, questioning Bishop Thompson’s “unsubstantiated” claim he was groomed and sexually abused by two senior clerics, including the late Bishop Ian Shevill.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.