AUSTRALIA
SBS
AAP
12 AUG 2016
An Anglican bishop’s decision to suspend rather than depose a priest accused of sexual misconduct was “offensive” to the victim, a church official has told a national inquiry.
Michael Elliott, director of the professional standards board for the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle said on Friday he saw Bishop Brian Farran’s 2012 decision to ban priest Graeme Sturt for five years rather than follow a recommendation to defrock him as an “affront” to the church’s efforts to protect children.
The board – a church investigative body – had upheld a complaint by abuse survivor CKH against Sturt and three other priests Andrew Duncan, Bruce Hoare and former dean of Newcastle Cathedral Graeme Lawrence.
Mr Elliott returned to the witness box for the second day at a royal commission hearing into how the Newcastle diocese responded to sex abuse allegations against clergy and church lay workers.
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