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	David Cappo Resigns over John Hepworth Case news.com.au September 15, 2011 http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/sacappo-resigns-over-hepworth-case/story-e6frfku0-1226138126452 CONTROVERSY over the John Hepworth case has prompted a senior South Australian Catholic priest to quit a key federal government post. Monsignor David Cappo was recently chosen by the federal government as the first chairman of the new Mental Health Commission, the body to lead national mental health reform. But he said today he had advised the government that he would not take up the position and had also resigned from the Australian Social Inclusion Board. "While I emphatically reject any suggestion that I or the church handled the complaint by John Hepworth with anything other than proper and due diligence, this matter has the potential to distract from the important work of the newly formed Mental Health Commission," Monsignor Cappo said in a statement. "I cannot allow that to occur. "We have worked so hard to put mental health on the national agenda and I do not want, in any way, to have this progress jeopardised." Anglican Archbishop John Hepworth, who trained as a Catholic priest, claims he was raped more than 40 years ago by three priests, including two who have since died. Speaking under parliamentary privilege on Tuesday, independent South Australian Senator Nick Xenophon defied the Catholic church and named Monsignor Ian Dempsey as the third priest involved. Senator Xenophon also accused Monsignor Cappo of not acting in a timely manner on complaints lodged by Archbishop Hepworth in 2007. At the time Monsignor Cappo was also working with the SA government as its commissioner for social inclusion. He recently announced plans to leave that position at the end of the year, after accepting the federal role. Monsignor Cappo said he would now leave his SA government role at the end of October. "My main task at the moment is to deliver a blueprint on disability reform in South Australia," he said. "That document will be ready in October and I intend to leave my South Australian position at the end of that month. "It has been a privilege to be of service to the state of South Australia and to the nation."
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