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	Sex Abuse Sale Dilemma By Colin James The Advertiser [Australia] May 20, 2006 http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/ 0,5936,19193103%5E2682,00.html THE Anglican Church is re-examining whether to sell off part of its official residence in North Adelaide to pay compensation claims to victims of child sex abuse. A special committee, looking for funds to cover a $4 million legal bill from the activities of pedophile church official Robert Brandenburg, is understood to be considering sub-dividing Bishop's Court, the traditional home of the Adelaide Anglican Archbishop. The 0.5ha property on Palmer Place - which will be open to the public tomorrow as part of History Week - is worth at least $4 million and consists of a two-storey mansion, outbuildings and extensive gardens. Moves to sell Bishop's Court were blocked late last year by the Anglican Adelaide Synod after clergy and lay-people secretly voted against a motion which proposed its sale for a minimum net profit of $3 million. According to the Synod's official minutes, the total vote was 94 in favour, 105 against - with 28 priests voting for its sale and 27 wanting it to remain in church ownership. The decision angered many lay Anglicans, who believed the property should have been sold to cover compensation payments to 36 young people abused by Brandenburg before his eventual suicide in 1999. Some of the sexual assaults took place at a beachfront youth camp at Port Elliot owned by the Anglican charity, Anglicare, known as St Luke's. Anglicare recently sold St Luke's for $8 million, raising concerns among some Anglicans that the money would be used for the Brandenburg legal bill, which has reached $4 million. Their concerns were heightened this week when Anglican Archbishop Jeffrey Driver revealed the church had been forced to borrow money due to the compensation payments and associated legal costs. Archbishop Driver yesterday said Anglicare controlled how the money from St Luke's would be spent as it had owned the property in trust and the church could not access the funds. Asked if Bishop's Court could yet be sold, Archbishop Driver said his fundraising committee was still developing a strategy and "any speculation at this time is just that, speculation".
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