AUSTRALIA
Daily Examiner
Tim Howard | 13th Jun 2016
A WOMAN who was sexually abused by a former Bishop of Grafton for 40 years, says an official apology from the Diocese has left her feeling stronger and able to manage her pain.
Beth Heinrich, sat in the congregation at Christ Church Anglican Cathedral on Sunday morning to hear the Bishop of Grafton, the Very Reverend Sarah Macneil apologise for the “reprehensible” conduct of her predecessor Donald Shearman.
Shearman was defrocked in 2004 when a church inquiry and tribunal uncovered a sex scandal involving him and Ms Heinrich going back to the mid-1950s.
Those same findings also led to the resignation of the Governor-General of Australia, Peter Hollingworth, for his efforts in attempting to cover up the scandal.
Ms Heinrich hoped her example would encourage others to seek justice.
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