AUSTRALIA
ABC News
By Emilie Gramenz
A former Tasmanian Anglican bishop’s sons would joke about members of a church boys’ society having sore bottoms, a royal commission hearing in Hobart has heard.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is examining the Anglican Church and its youth group, the Church of England Boys Society (CEBS).
Philip Newell was Bishop of the Diocese of Tasmania from 1982 until his retirement in 2000.
Counsel Assisting Naomi Sharp asked Mr Newell about a woman who dated his eldest son in the 1980s and attended family gatherings.
“She has given evidence … the brothers would, in your presence, occasionally talk about Louis Daniels and CEBS with ‘sore bottoms’,” she said.
“And you would shush them and say, ‘Come boys, let’s not have that at the dinner table’.
“What do you say to that?” Ms Sharp said,
“I don’t believe it,” Mr Newell answered.
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