The Bishop of Newcastle has been urged to strip two priests including a former Dean of their holy ordersThe former Dean of Newcastle, Australia, is among four clergymen and a youth worker under the scrutiny of a Professional Standards Board investigating allegations of sexual abuse.
The Very Rev. Graeme Lawrence, who served as Dean of Newcastle for 25 years until his retirement in 2008, the Rev. Graeme Sturt, the Rev. Bruce Hoare, the Rev. Andrew Duncan and former church worker Gregory Goyette are the subject of an internal investigation for “alleged examinable conduct under the diocesan code of conduct.”
On Dec 14, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported the offences related to an “alleged group sex incident” with a 19-year old man at a church seminar at Narrandera in 1984.
The victim reported the abuse when he learned the “former Dean of Newcastle Graeme Lawrence was taking on relief work in the Wangaratta Diocese,” ABC said. No criminal proceedings are currently pending against the accused.
The Newcastle Diocese Professional Standards Board is holding hearings focussing on an alleged sex incident in a motel room in southern New South Wales, in 1984.
The Board found the former Dean of Newcastle, The Very Reverend Graeme Lawrence, was involved in sex acts with a 19-year-old man. The Board found another priest, Reverend Graeme Leslie Sturt watched on, before making advances to a 17-year-old boy. But the 17-year-old told the Board he has no memory of the incident because he was drunk.
The Board has recommended that the Reverend Sturt and the Very Reverend Graeme Lawrence be deposed from holy orders, saying both have brought disgrace to the church. The Reverends Lawrence and Sturt refused to take part in the hearings, but deny the allegations.
The President of the Professional Standards Board, Colin Elliot said the Very Reverend Lawrence is seen as a pillar in the community but stressed profound consequences must flow for his conduct, which he says also involved sending explicit letters.
The Diocese Prosecutor Phillip Lloyd said he led a secret double life and said the community would be shocked.