Ex-governor-general Peter Hollingworth’s fight for right to preach

Former governor-general Peter Hollingworth is fighting the potential loss of his right to deliver sermons in church.

Former governor-general Peter Hollingworth. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Former governor-general Peter Hollingworth is fighting the ­potential loss of his right to ­deliver sermons in church and bury the dead as the Anglican Church faces a backlash over his handling of child sex abuse.

Dr Hollingworth is using his Melbourne-based criminal lawyer to help deal with internal church inquiries and a flood of criticism from abuse victims and critics over his time as archbishop of Brisbane.

Dr Hollingworth has never been accused of committing abuse but has been strongly criticised by victims for what they claim was a lack of action while he was running the church in Queensland in the 1990s.

He denies inaction but resigned as governor-general in 2003 after he was criticised at a Brisbane inquiry for his handling of allegations of child-sex abuse against paedophile priest John Linton Elliot.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse found Dr Hollingworth had made a serious error of judgment by allowing Elliot to continue in the ministry.

Kooyoora Ltd, which is the independent professional standards office for the Anglican Church in Melbourne, has been examining complaints over whether he should be able to retain his status as a bishop.

The church has in the past cleared the way for Dr Hollingworth, 83, to retain his ministry, ­although he is understood to only rarely exercise any religious responsibilities.

Asked by The Australian whether Dr Hollingworth believed he should retain the right to deliver sermons, bury the dead and perform other such tasks, his lawyer, Bill Doogue, said, “yes’’.

Mr Doogue said he was unable to comment on whether Dr Hollingworth had submitted to an interview by church investigators or whether he had provided written answers. “It is a confidential process and as I am respecting the process, I am not allowed to talk about it,’’ he said.

Queensland anti-abuse advocate Kelvin Johnston said Dr Hollingworth should be stripped of his right to function as an ­Anglican minister.

Mr Johnston said Kooyoora was at risk of being used as a shield to protect the church from some complainants.

“If you’ve got complaints, you go straight to the police,’’ he said.

Abuse survivor Beth Heinrich, who was abused by a priest — later to become a bishop — from the age of 15, has called on Scott Morrison to strip the former governor-general of his pension, which is worth ­hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

Ms Heinrich was sexually ­victimised by Anglican priest and bishop Donald Shearman over many years but in an ABC story aired before he quit as ­governor-general, Dr Hollingworth said of her case: “There was no suggestion of rape or ­anything like that; quite the ­contrary.

“My information is that it was rather the other way around.’’

His response sparked a nat­ional outcry amid suggestions Dr Hollingworth was victim-blaming Ms Heinrich.

Mr Doogue questioned the ­accuracy of the ABC’s reporting. The national broadcaster, however, stood by its reporting.

The Anglican Church said it had no role in Kooyoora’s ­decision-making.