Allegations of Clergy Paedophile Ring under Investigation: the Church of England Newspaper, Nov 5, The Conger, November 10, 2010

Allegations of Clergy Paedophile Ring under Investigation: the Church of England Newspaper, Nov 5

The Conger
November 10, 2010

http://geoconger.wordpress.com/2010/11/10/allegations-of-clergy-paedophile-ring-under-investigation-the-church-of-england-newspaper-nov-5-2010-p-6/

Bishop Brian Farren of Newcastle, Australia

First published in The Church of England Newspaper.

Abuse victims have charged the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle, Australia with ignoring warnings that a paedophile ring was at work within the church.

The accusations reported by the Newcastle Herald follow the arraignment last week of a former youth worker on 103 counts of child sexual abuse, and the release of a diocesan statement confirming the Rev. Peter Rushton's "involvement in the sexual abuse of minors."

A parish priest in the diocese from 1963 until his death in 2007, Fr. Rushton was alleged to have abused altar servers, or "arranged for it to happen," Newcastle Bishop Brian Farran said on Oct 19.

He added that the diocese was assisting the police with allegations that Fr. Rushton did not act alone, but was part of a clergy paedophile ring. The bishop said the diocese started working with police after "significant allegations and information of concern" after the priest's death in 2007.

However, an abuse survivor has claimed that in 1984 he had warned the diocese that a paedophile ring was at work.

"I first told [a retired priest] in 1984 that 'You've got a network of these bastards preying on altar boys', and I named names," the one-time church employee told the Herald.

"We all knew it. I gave him at least five names but nothing happened," said the victim, who later received a settlement payment from the diocese in compensation for his sexual abuse at the hands of a priest.

On Oct 20 a former youth worker appeared before a Newcastle magistrate charged with 103 counts of child abuse, including procuring a boy for deviant sexual acts.

James Michael Brown, 60, a former board member of St Alban's Boys' Home in Aberdare, is alleged to have molested 13 boys aged 11 to 17 from 1974 to 1996. The indictment includes 38 charges of sodomy and 60 indecent assault charges. Mr. Brown did not enter a plea and has been bound over to answer the charges on Dec 22.

In a statement released after Mr. Brown's arrest this summer, Bishop Farran confirmed that the accused had worked for the diocese in the 1970s and early 1980s in a variety of duties, including youth work and as a carer at the St Alban's Home.

The diocese was assisting the police and was "strongly committed to addressing the issue of current and historical child sexual abuse in the church," the bishop said.