Prosecutors in South Australia have recommended that no charges be laid against a Catholic priest who was accused of sexual assault by the former world leader of the Traditional Anglican Communion.
Archbishop John Hepworth, who led the conservative Anglican group until he was ousted in an acrimonious policy dispute last year, had caused a sensation by reporting that he was the victim of sexual assaults in the 1960s, when he was a Catholic seminarian.
The Anglican prelate said three Catholic priests had molested him, but did not reveal their names.
However, an independent senator, Nick Xenophon, used parliamentary privilege to name Monsignor Ian Dempsey, a former vicar general of Adelaide archdiocese, as the sole survivor of those accused.
After an independent inquiry, the archdiocese found that now-Bishop Hepworth’s complaints against Monsignor Dempsey were unwarranted. Bishop Hepworth then reported his allegations to the police.
The Director of Public Prosecutions has now concluded that no charges should be brought.
Monsignor Dempsey said he was relieved that he would not face prosecution, but humiliated that his name had been “rubbed in the mud”.
“I can concentrate on being a good priest, and continuing to be a good priest, which is what I love doing,” he said.
“The only trouble of course is once this type of thing is said and the mud is thrown I can never prove that I’m innocent.”
The monsignor said if Senator Xenophon had “any integrity”, he would apologise for making the allegations in Parliament — but the senator said he won’t be apologising.
“I believe the only apology due here is by the Adelaide archdiocese of the Catholic Church, for the way it abysmally dealt with Archbishop Hepworth’s allegations,” Xenophon said.
“The individual concerned is still working, he still has his job with the church, his position has been maintained, life goes on for him. Archbishop Hepworth, by contrast, no longer has a job.”
Sources:
Image: The Australian
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