You have proof? Show it please. That’s a very very vicious and ugly claim to make. We have no scandal in our church along the lines of assaulting innocent children and then covering it up higher up the line. No doubt every church on earth has people in it not fit to be preaching. None have raised to the level of the priest scandal in the RCC however. And yet, how many are excommunicated for this?
AnglicaPRIEST CHECKS
Clergy must have police clearance
By Joe Spagnolo and Gavin Simpson
THE Anglican Church is considering making police checks compulsory for all its WA priests.
Bunbury Bishop David McCall has told 30 priests from Mandurah to Albany that they must get police clearances to keep administering the faith.
He has also demanded that new priests to the region and Church members who deal with children also have such checks.
Bishop McCall said South-West priests supported the move because they recognised Australians had lost faith in church leaders because of sex crime involving children.
Existing priests elsewhere in WA do not have to have police checks but new clergy coming into the Perth diocese must have police clearance.
A spokesman for the Archbishop of Perth, Dr Peter Carnley, said yesterday the Church was actively considering making police checks compulsory for all Anglican priests.
But Dr Carnely said his preferred option was for an independent government-run system of screening cards to be introduced nationally.
They system would be based on the Queensland model under which anyone seeking to work with children anywhere must have a comprehensive criminal history check. This went beyond a standard police clearance.
In Queensland, the Commissioner for Children looks at criminal convictions and charges to determine whether a person is suitable for child-related employment. A successful applicant is given a plastic card
Read “Priest checks; Clergy must have police clearance,” The West Australian, Jun 27 02, page 1
Study more at
multiline.com.au/~johnm/nonmarital.htm
similar to a bankcard which must be presented to a potential employer, such as a school, church or sporting organisation.
Dr Carnley said the national conference of Anglican bishops agreed in April to ask all State premiers to introduce the system and some had already responded.
If the national screening card system did not eventuate, the Church would have to think again about its options.
Bishop McCall said priests abusing young children had tarnished the reputations of the Anglican and Catholic churches. Parents did not feel as comfortable about letting their children come into contact with priests.
He said the Catholic and Anglican churches had lost credibility with the community because they had not been open about sex crimes involving priests.
The Church had been wrong to believe priests who were sex offenders would not reoffend because they had confessed their sins and said sorry.
“The Christian Church has traditionally said that if there was a case of child abuse and the person was sincerely repentant then they should be forgiven and given another chance,” he said.
"What was not understood was that people who have abused children will not stop despite having confessed and given all the assurances in the world that they will not reoffend.
“The sad reality is that a small percentage of priests who were child abusers were offending again and again.”
Alston, page 19
More?I think the last line is VERY telling.People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones,dear.
