(AUSTRALIA)
Melbourne Anglican [Melbourne NSW Australia]
November 24, 2024
By Andrew Esnouf
Anne Manne. Crimes of the Cross: The Anglican Paedophile Network of Newcastle, Its Protectors and the Man Who Fought for Justice. Black Inc, 2024.
Crimes of the Cross is an important book for Anglicans to read. It is also a difficult book to read. It discusses the horrific and weighty issues of child sexual abuse in Anglican churches, and so it is at times confronting, at times disturbing and at times enraging. It is also conflicting, as many will personally know, or be acquainted with those who know, pivotal people described in this book. So not all Anglicans will be able to read this book, but many should.
It is an important book for Anglicans because a central practice of our faith is to confess our sins and failings. Also central to the Anglican tradition is seeking to love and bless our communities, particularly the young and the vulnerable. If Anglicans are true to our faith, then we must recognise our failures, repent of them, and work to ensure they are never repeated.
Anne Manne has previously reported on stories of abuse revealed by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Here, she expands upon that reporting with further research into specific stories of abuse from within the Diocese of Newcastle.
Crimes of the Cross follows the story of Steve Smith, whose family were active parishioners in their local church in suburban Newcastle. He was a bright boy, his father was a churchwarden and his mother was a church organist. Mr Smith was abused, repeatedly, by his parish priest George Parker.
The book then largely follows Mr Smith’s journey, tracing the tragic aftermath in the decades since his abuse. Mr Smith’s struggles to find healing and justice are documented. He sought justice through the courts and was failed. He sought truth-telling from the church and encountered church officials either unwilling or unable to admit complicity.
The book culminates in the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and its aftermath. The Anglican Diocese of Newcastle was scathingly rebuked, and Mr Smith’s testimony was heard and honoured as a ‘truthful and compelling witness’.
This horrific story is not a horror tale of the impact of an individual’s sin. It is a condemnation of multiple system failures within organisations, particularly the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle, and of the ability of perpetrators to manipulate people and organisations to benefit abusers and their allies. On this Manne is not making baseless assertions, as she maps out the network of power players within the Newcastle Anglican and high society network.
“Team Church” as Manne calls them includes Graeme Lawrence, who was Dean of the cathedral in Newcastle from 1984 until 2008, and Peter Rushton. Both were priests who serially abused children, and both had allegations of their abuse swept under the rug by senior church leadership, including a succession of bishops.
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Throughout this weighty book, there are moments of hope and humanity. The love, courage and determination of Mr Smith’s mother when he disclosed his abuse is one such moment. His ability to love and support other abuse survivors is another. Mr Smith’s ability to offer grace to the clergy and church who failed him is truly admirable. An underlying plot of the book is that progress has been made in institutional cultures, and it beautifully articulates how this progress has been incredibly hard-won, and honours some of those whose sweat and tears contributed to this progress.
Perhaps the most valuable chapter for the church to learn from in this book is not any of the harrowing details of abuse or the malicious deceptions carried out to defend perpetrators or to save face, but rather the penultimate chapter Powerful Perpetrators.
In this chapter, Ms Manne examines the patterns of abuse that manifested in the actions of George Parker, Graeme Lawrence and Peter Rushton, which includes the cultivation of a reputation and image that mimics that of a good vicar, in order to gain access to victims and allies when their abuse is revealed. They impress with their leadership and charismatic authority, they regularly visit the troubled and the vulnerable, and they are well thought of as generous and benignly helpful. These are traits many in parish ministry seek to emulate, which is why churches find themselves hunting grounds for sexual predators.
Crimes of the Cross is a troubling but important book. Anglicans must know both the history of our failures and the patterns abusers use to prey upon the young and vulnerable. This is a painful and difficult book for Anglicans to read, but it is a gift to us. It is a gift we should embrace and give thanks for.
The Reverend Andrew Esnouf is parish minister in the parish of St Alban’s and St Augustine’s Merri-Be