ARCHBISHOP Adrian Doyle of Hobart is standing firm in the face of renewed calls for his resignation over his handling of sex abuse complaints, and says he would support an inquiry into sex abuse in the Church in Tasmania.
He has also foreshadowed possible changes to the way such cases are handled.
Media reports in Tasmania have carried an admission from Archbishop Doyle that he had not handled complaints ‘as well I could have’.
But he said the Church was determined to do better, and he did not intend to resign.
Criticism of Archbishop Doyle has focused on his handling of complaints about the behaviour of former Lindisfarne parish priest, Msgr Philip Green.
A former Church adviser, the father of one of two complainants, is the latest to call for the archbishop’s resignation.
A spokesman for Hobart archdiocese said one complainant took allegations to the police two years ago but they did not proceed with a case.
In August it was reported that police would not lay charges because the legal limits had expired. The allegations date back almost 20 years.
Msgr Green has been stood down from his duties and he is receiving counselling in Sydney.
In Queensland, a lawyer for sex abuse victims in Rockhampton diocese has called for Bishop Brian Heenan to stand down over his handling of complaints.
This followed the sentencing of former priest Michael Joseph McArdle to six years’ jail in Brisbane District Court on October 8 on 62 counts of indecent dealings against 14 boys and two girls, aged under 14 between 1965 and 1987.
Bishop Heenan declined to comment on the call for him to stand down but, after McArdle’s sentencing, he renewed his apology to victims of the abuse.
