AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun
By Sam Lienert
29mar05
AN Adelaide woman is seeking financial compensation from the Anglican Church after bringing up twin boys fathered by a priest, who allegedly raped her.
The woman says she was raped when she was 19 by Father Leonard Russell Goggs in the vestry of Renmark Anglican church in 1962.
Adelaide diocese administrator Archdeacon John Collas said the church acknowledged the woman was a victim of sexual assault and that Father Goggs, who died in 1979, was the father of the twins.
But Archdeacon Collas said the church did not know whether she had been raped.
The woman's lawyer, Peter Humphries, said the church had provided almost no support to the woman or her children.
"Twin boys were born of this one sexual act and the church have apparently recognised the paternity of those boys almost from day one, but really not provided any assistance towards their upbringing and similarly offered not very much support to their mother," he said.
Posted by kshaw at March 28, 2005 11:33 PM