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Australia debates church-state relations, and dealing with abuse
Episcopal News Service
Issue:
Section:
2003-124E
Posted: Thursday, June 05, 2003
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Australia is engaging in vigorous debate as to whether any former church leader should be allowed to serve as the country's constitutional head of state, following the resignation of a former Anglican archbishop from his post as governor-general at the end of last month. At the same time, the resignation of Peter Hollingworth has re-ignited debate on the thorny question of how churches deal internally and publicly with allegations of sexual abuse that relate to clerics.
Hollingworth resigned from his position as governor-general after months of controversy about how he handled alleged sex abuse cases, involving church workers, while he was archbishop in the east coast city of Brisbane. 'The hard fact I have had to face is that in at least one incident, though I acted in good faith, I got it wrong,' Hollingworth told Australia in a national broadcast address on May 28. 'I did not think there was anything in my past ministry that would cause a problem for others or for me,' he said. 'If I did, I would certainly not have accepted his [the prime minister's] invitation [to take up the post]. The controversial matters which have now come to light did so several months after I had been in office.'
Under Australia's constitution, the governor-general represents Queen Elizabeth II, the British sovereign, who is also Queen of Australia. The governor-general is appointed by the prime minister acting alone. Prime Minister Howard accepted responsibility for Hollingworth's selection, but admitted he did not do 'background checks' before making the appointment.
Hollingworth resigned under pressure from the findings of an Anglican church inquiry into his actions as archbishop of Brisbane. According to the findings, Hollingworth had given testimony that was found to be inaccurate, and also had allowed a known sexual abuser to continue acting as a priest. Three weeks before he resigned, Hollingworth denied a rape allegation involving a woman who had died earlier this year. Hollingworth stood aside as governor-general awaiting a decision of the Victorian [state] Supreme Court which later dismissed the case, after the dead woman's family asked the court to withdraw the action.
The former archbishop had, however, admitted making a grave error of judgment in the sexual abuse case he oversaw as archbishop, but had also claimed that the church-run inquiry denied him natural justice. He has so far declined to release legal documents, which he says supports this claim.
'His downfall then is also, in part, his [the Anglican] church's downfall,' wrote columnist Muriel Porter in Melbourne's Age newspaper. 'While he has been accused of being soft on perpetrators of sexual abuse, so has his church. He is not alone. He is just the public face of the failure of the wider church to care adequately for sexual abuse victims.'
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| © 2004, The Episcopal Church, USA. Episcopal News Service content may be reprinted without permission as long as credit is given to ENS. |
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