Peter Hollingworth will never officiate in Australia as Anglican church body dumps plans to appeal inquiry findings

Anglicans dump plans to appeal board findings that allowed former governor-general to officiate despite serial failings over his handling of child sex abuse.

Peter Hollingworth arrives at the Victorian Bar Mediation Centre. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Former governor-general Peter Hollingworth will never officiate in the Anglican Church anywhere in Australia after investigators threatened to appeal a board decision to allow him to have a limited role in services.

The Anglican diocese of Melbourne’s Professional Standards Committee has revealed it was preparing to appeal the board findings that would have paved the way for Dr Hollingworth to officiate in a qualified way in Melbourne.

The PSC has detailed how it was considering appealing the internal board findings because it had concerns over several aspects of its decision making.

The Anglican Professional Standards Board - which sits above the committee - found Dr Hollingworth guilty of seven counts of misconduct over his handling of the child sex abuse issue while he was archbishop of Brisbane more than 20 years ago.

But the board did not defrock Dr Hollingworth or strip him of the right to officiate; the committee had sought for the former governor-general to lose the right to officiate and says it submitted that it was open for the board to recommend his removal from holy orders.

But on May 12, Dr Hollingworth announced his intention to return his permission to officiate and this was accepted by the church on May 19.

On May 23, at the request of the committee, Dr Hollingworth gave an undertaking he would not apply in the future for a permission to officiate anywhere in Australia.

‘’In light of Dr Hollingworth’s relinquishment of his permission to officiate and his undertaking never to apply for one in the future, the committee has determined not to appeal the decision of the board,’’ it said in a statement.

‘’This matter highlights that it is essential that persons who hold positions of responsibility within the Anglican Church must act responsibly, reasonably, appropriately and sensitively when responding to reports of child sexual abuse.

‘’This is the standard expected of all and is necessary to ensure protection of the community, including its most vulnerable members.’’

The church set up a marathon process to investigate complaints against Dr Hollingworth that took at least five years to be finalised.

Dr Hollingworth, 88, who has had poor health, was deeply upset by the publicity that has dogged him for more than 20 years but a series of survivors have campaigned for the church to deal fully with his mistakes.

The Australian in April revealed that Dr Hollingworth had detailed clear knowledge of the harms caused by pedophiles nearly 30 years ago, contradicting a finding of the PSB that allowed him to retain his ministry.

The protocol showed Dr Hollingworth had known while archbishop of Brisbane that victims of abuse suffered at the hands of paedophiles.

There were two senior clergy that Dr Hollingworth allowed to remain in ministry despite evidence they had been sex offenders.

A paper trail was discovered of his decision-making that enabled investigators to closely examine the efficacy of his management of the abuse crisis. Dr Hollingworth did not commit abuse but was found to have severely mismanaged the crisis.

Just over 20 years ago he was appointed governor-general of Australia, with his handling of the crisis plaguing him until he was forced out of the job.

ENDS