குழந்தைகளை பாலுறவு பலாத்காரம் செய்த கிறிஸ்துவ பாதிரியாரை பதவி நீக்கம் செய்யக்கோரி ஆஸ்திரேலியாவில் ஆர்ப்பாட்டம் நடந்தது.
Call to defrock pervert priest
November 07, 2007 02:55pm
A CHILD protection group has called on the Anglican Church to defrock a priest due for release from jail tomorrow after serving time for child sex offences.
Robert Francis Sharwood, 62, of Brisbane, was jailed for 12 months last November after being found guilty of sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy in Brisbane more than 30 years ago.
He is due to be released from a Brisbane jail tomorrow.
Bravehearts spokeswoman Hetty Johnston said Sharwood still remained an ordained minister, despite Anglican Archbishop Philip Aspinall removing his licence to operate as a priest in the diocese in 2002.
The church is awaiting the decision of its Professional Standards Board, which began examining the Sharwood case last November but could take no further action once he was jailed.
The process involves allowing Sharwood to make a submission before any decision is made on his Anglican orders, and could allow him to cross-examine his victim.
"The church is giving him a hearing so it can establish why he should not be a priest," Ms Johnston told AAP.pe"I would have thought the answer is simple: he's a convicted paedophile.
"You've got to drag the church kicking and screaming to this point - it's an insult."
In Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, Ms Johnston today will renew calls for a Senate inquiry into the way in which organisations such as churches deal with child abuse.
"This is not a witch-hunting exercise, but really a matter of necessity and critical moral issues," she said.
"The church needs to get all of this stuff out of the shadows."
Archbishop Aspinall last week stated offenders within the church would not be permitted to "continue to exercise a ministry which exposes vulnerable people to further harm".
But he said the church had to abide by a "thorough and just" process.
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