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Accusations of Abuse in
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Sunday
Star Times
March 3, 2002
Church in sex claims
by Amanda Cropp
The Anglican Church is facing hefty compensation claims from
women who say they were sexually harassed and abused by an Anglican priest.
Although the church has denied legal liability, it has now agreed to consider
paying compensation if the women concerned undergo psychiatric assessment.
Two women are seeking between $160,000 and $180,000 each for
counselling and other costs arising from alleged abuse by Rob McCullough.
Complaints about sexual misconduct by McCullough, once a high
profile
The two women are angry about delays in settling the matter and
say there are strong parallels with the sex scandals rocking the Anglican
Church in
Governor-general Peter Hollingworth has been called on to resign
over claims he covered up sex abuse by priests and church officials when he was
archbishop of
The bishop of
Coles said the church was negotiating with two lawyers
representing the women. He said QC Nigel Hampton was retained on behalf of some
of the complainants and the church had agreed to pay some of his costs to
ensure the complainants had access to high quality legal advice. The church has
also retained lawyers, including QC Tom Weston, to act on its behalf. Bishop
Coles said agreement had been reached with one of the lawyers over a process to
try to resolve some claims but he would not elaborate on what that involved.
At last year's synod, bishop Coles offered "heartfelt and
sincere apologies to all the women who had suffered abuse at the hands of this
priest" and said that since November 2000 there had been constant activity
to determine "an appropriate and just response to the women who were
abused".
In the wake of the first complaints the church removed
McCullough's licence to officiate as a priest, he lost all positions within the
church, was banned from supervising women alone and required to undertake
regular therapy. He has not worked for the church since. McCullough's wife told
the Star-Times he had had no information on the claims and no one from the
church was in touch with him. She said her husband would not wish to comment.
One complainant said the attitude of the Australian church was
very similar to what the women here had experienced. "All along the church
has acted defensively and not with compassion. If they had apologised I would
not have asked for money. The original wrong has been compounded to such an
extent by the way the church has handled (my complaint) that I now need
compensation in order to put it behind me and get on with my life.
"I don't know how much more of this process I can cope
with."
The woman, an ordained minister, said she had been unable to get
work in her profession and had to retrain. "We were vilified. People were
describing me as a harlot, a dangerous sexually predatory woman. People were
saying things like 'never be alone in a room with her'. I had terrible
experiences of people saying 'don't even bother applying for this job, we'll
just screw up your application and throw it in the bin'."
Last year a Supreme Court jury ordered the Anglican Diocese of
Brisbane to pay more than $830,000 damages to a female former student who was
abused by a boarding master at a preparatory school. This case is important,
say some of the
When the church was alerted to McCullough's behaviour he was head
of College House, a
In her book Whistle Blower published last year
Six months ago two complaints, one of sexual assault and one of
rape, were laid against McCullough with