BishopAccountability.org
	'Harassed' Priests Hide Collars Fearing Abuse The Australian October 27, 2006 http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20653500-5006787,00.html Some Anglican priests have stopped wearing their collars in public after being abused over revelations about child sex abuse. Adelaide Archbishop Jeffrey Driver yesterday said he had been "deeply saddened" when he was told priests had been ostracised since details of the abuse emerged three years ago. "In a sense, they have become the secondary victims of the abuse," he said. "The toll of individuals (within the church) has been high." The issue of priests not wearing their collars in public surfaced in a report commissioned by the church following the highly-publicised resignation of former Adelaide Archbishop Ian George. Social issues expert Dr Zoe Morrison interviewed priests across Adelaide. They told her they had experienced isolation, loneliness and a lack of support from senior church officials. Ms Morrison said some priests had encountered "open hostility and harassment by members of the public because of the sexual abuse issue within the church". "For example, one priest reported that one of their colleagues had been heckled in a local shopping centre; another described a situation where they had overhead someone saying outside the church that 'they wouldn't let their kids go to church', which they found distressing," her report said. "Several clergy stated that they now wore their collar less in public." Reverend Neil Mathieson and Archdeacon Ruth Mathieson, of Elizabeth, said yesterday they still wore their collars in public because they symbolised their belief in God. The married couple, who have two young children, said they remained proud to be Anglican priests, as they were not serving an "institution" but God.
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