Anglican Church
The Anglican Church of Australia is the second largest church in Australia, after the Roman Catholic Church. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there were in 2016 3.1 million Australians who identified themselves as Anglicans. The Anglican Church through out its history in Australia has been a large provider of social welfare services and education through the operation of schools at both the primary and secondary level.
However, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in April 2017 published “Analysis of Complaints of Child Sexual Abuse received by Anglican Church Dioceses in Australia” which scrutinised the Anglican Church and found that the Church had been not immune to allegations and complaints involving child sexual abuse. The Royal Commission report surveyed 23 Anglican dioceses and concluded the following data:
22 dioceses reported having received one or more complaints of child sexual abuse between 1 January 1980 and 31 December 2015.
Overall, 1,085 complainants alleged incidents of child sexual abuse in 1,119 reported complaints to Anglican Church dioceses (some complainants made a complaint of child sexual abuse against more than one Anglican Church diocese).
The Anglican Church Diocese of Brisbane received the highest number of complaints being a total of 371 complaints (33% of all complaints). The Diocese of Brisbane requires all Anglican schools within the diocese to report complaints of child sexual abuse to the diocese.
Consequently, the number of complaints reported by this diocese in relation to schools is higher than those dioceses that require either some or alternatively none of the Anglican schools in their diocese to report complaints of child sexual abuse to the diocese.
The Anglican Diocese of Adelaide received the second highest number of complaints being a total of 155 complaints (14% of all complaints). The Diocese of Adelaide included a significant number of complaints in their survey relating to the Church of England Boys’ Society (CEBS).
Seventy-four percent of complaints involved alleged child sexual abuse starting in the period from 1950 to 1989 inclusive. Of all the complaints of child sexual abuse, the largest proportion of first-alleged incidents of child sexual abuse fell in the 1970s (226 complaints, or 25 per cent of all complaints with known dates). Where this information was reported, in 61 per cent of complaints the abuse occurred over a single year. In 11 per cent of complaints, the abuse occurred over a period of five years or more.
Complaints that related to orphanages or residential homes had the highest average duration of the alleged child sexual abuse (3.5 years).
Of the 569 identified individuals subject to complaints of child sexual abuse:
247 were ordained clergy (43% of all known alleged perpetrators)
285 were lay people (50% of all known alleged perpetrators)
For 37 known alleged perpetrators (7%) their religious status was not known.
Of all alleged perpetrators, 94 per cent were male and 6 per cent were female.
The most common location types where incidents of child sexual abuse were alleged to have occurred were either residential or non-residential schools (22%); the alleged perpetrator’s home (20%), orphanages/residential homes (14%); and youth camp/recreational facilities (14%). Thirty-two per cent of complaints involved an ‘other’ location.
Moody Law has represented and is still representing clients who were victims of child sexual abuse at institutions and schools run by the Anglican Church.
We invite former victims to contact us to tell us confidentially what information they may have, and we will explain what options are available to help with these cases.
Call us or complete the confidential enquiry form below.