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	Confession No Excuse for Abuse Silence By Colin James news.com.au [Australia] October 20, 2006 http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20613907-2,00.html Anglican priests will no longer be able to use confidentiality as a reason for not reporting child sex abuse, under strict new rules to be introduced across Adelaide. The unprecedented measures, to be endorsed by the Diocese of Adelaide Synod next weekend, will extend to confessions heard by priests, including those with other priests. They follow the compulsory training of South Australian Anglican priests on their legal requirements to report child abuse to authorities, which have been opposed by some priests who believe confidentiality should be maintained for pastoral reasons. The new rules surpass those implemented nationally by the Catholic Church, which still maintains confidentiality over confessions. Adelaide Anglican Archbishop Jeffrey Driver yesterday told The Advertiser he would not tolerate any more "cover-ups" within the Anglican Church of child sex abuse, saying previous inaction by church leaders had caused enormous problems. Archbishop Driver said priests would be given no option but to observe a new code of conduct under which they would be forced to report child abuse, including information received during confession. "If I was giving confession to a priest who told me about child sex abuse, I would not give him absolution. I would immediately stop the confession and march him straight to the nearest police station," he said. Detailing the most comprehensive strategy developed by the Adelaide Anglican Church to combat child sex abuse, Archbishop Driver said the church "needs to recover its own integrity and confidence in the community". "This has been diminished by a relatively small group of people who have done a massive amount of damage," he said. "I am aware confidence in the church and morale within the church has been profoundly affected." An official background document detailing the measures says they are "considered to be one of the most advanced and comprehensive in the Commonwealth and may well become a model for use elsewhere". Under the new strategy, any information received by priests about child abuse, including confessions, must be reported to the church's Professional Standards Committee. "It is necessary that the Professional Standards Committee has access, in confidence, to all information relevant to a possible respondent (offender)," it says. "Furthermore, failure in the past to disclose and to do anything about information thus received has caused untold damage to the Church, in its failure to act." Archbishop Driver said the removal of confidentiality was part of a code of conduct developed for Adelaide Anglican priests, church officials and church workers - such as volunteers and lay people - which would be administered by a new professional standards board. Formation of the board, the appointment of a permanent professional standards director and the restructuring of an existing professional standards committee would be presented to the Synod next weekend for official approval. Archbishop Driver said he also would seek authority for extra powers to strip priests of their licences if they were found guilty of child sex abuse by criminal courts or by church inquiries. The powers - contained in special church legislation developed by an internal committee comprised of lawyers and a Supreme Court judge - would give Archbishop Driver the power to refuse licences to priests who had been either accused of child sex abuse or found guilty of child sex offences within SA, interstate or overseas. Also included in the child sex abuse strategy - triggered by revelations four years ago of widespread pedophilia within the Adelaide Anglican Church over five decades - are measures to force priests, church workers and volunteers to co-operate with church investigations into suspected child sex abuse. Under the new laws, priests who are found guilty of professional misconduct such as child abuse can be stripped of their licences, counselled, suspended or sacked. State Government laws requiring priests and church officials to report child abuse are still before Parliament. The Diocese of Adelaide Synod will meet at St Peter's College, Hackney, from next Friday to Sunday.
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