An Adelaide Catholic priest accused under parliamentary privilege of sexually abusing a man, now an Anglican archbishop, has spoken publicly for the first time to deny the allegation.
Monsignor Ian Dempsey was named in the Senate last night by independent senator Nick Xenophon.
Senator Xenophon said the Archbishop of the Traditional Anglican Communion, John Hepworth, alleged he was abused by the priest while studying in a Catholic seminary.
What are you angry about and when will what stop?I am so unbelievebly angered at this. He was well known in my parish. When will it ever stop?
The nonstop sexual abuse scandals.What are you angry about and when will what stop?
I suggest you take evidence of his guilt to the police straight away. Can i ask what it is ?The nonstop sexual abuse scandals.
And while his friends have stood by him resolutely, Hepworth too has come under fire from some quarters, with claims emerging of past financial mismanagement in parishes in South Australia and Victoria.
One such story is that Hepworth fled Adelaide not because of the sex abuse but because of financial irregularities in his parish, similar to trouble he got into over parish finances when he was an Anglican priest in Ballarat.
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The Anglican Church, prior to Hepworth joining them in 1976, sent prominent Adelaide QC Robin Millhouse to Auxiliary Bishop Philip Kennedy at the Adelaide Catholic archdiocese to investigate the claims. Millhouse was told Hepworth had taken school fees and given receipts in discarded but only partly used receipt books and not accounted for the money.