AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald
By TIM CONNELL
March 27, 2016
ONE of the Hunter’s top Anglicans has used Easter to back the alleged victims who will testify at Royal Commission hearings into sexual abuse in the church.
The Bishop of Newcastle, the Right Reverend Greg Thompson, told an Easter Sunday congregation at Christ Church Cathedral to resist “fence-sitting” and to “bear witness” to society’s wrongs.
“In the time of the Royal Commission, it is our role to listen to the survivors,” Bishop Thompson said.
“To seek to understand the journey they have taken to come and tell their story.”
With the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse due to hold public hearings in Newcastle this year, Bishop Thompson said it was part of the Christian ethos to “stand with those who need help”.
“Really, to witness is more than being a bystander,” he told the congregation.
“We are asked to walk the talk.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.