Anglican breakaway archbishop John Hepworth has been removed from his post as the global primate of the church at a meeting of bishops in South Africa.
He had planned to step down at Easter after bishops in several countries lost confidence in him and opposed his attempts to reunite with Rome.
The Traditional Anglican Communion will also remain fully Anglican.
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Archbishop John Hepworth, the leader of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) is resigning on Pentecost Sunday in 2012. Hepworth, who claims to be the victim of rape while in a Catholic Seminary 40 years ago, said the move was prompted by “considerable dissension” within the Traditional Anglican Communion. “Profound doctrinal and moral differences have grown between us,” Read more
A day after an investigation by prominent Adelaide QC, Michael Abbott, found there was no substance to an allegation of rape against one of its senior clerics, the complainant, Traditional Anglican Bishop John Hepworth has filed a complaint with the South Australian police. Bitterly disappointed with the Church investigation, Hepworth said he had no choice but Read more
The Catholic Church in Adelaide has found there is no substance to an allegation of rape against one of its senior clerics. The allegation was brought by Traditional Anglican Archbishop, John Hepworth and dates back 40 years to when he was a Catholic seminarian. The investigation, conducted by Michael Abbott, a prominent Adelaide QC, found Read more
The Australian Senate chamber was almost empty yet the independent senator from South Australia knew his words would echo across the country, transforming the lives of two men and perhaps his own. As Xenophon rose to speak in Canberra, two nervous priests were watching him via the internet in Adelaide. Monsignor Ian Dempsey, a Catholic Read more
Controversial Anglican Archbishop John Hepworth has denied offering to drop demands for action over rape allegations against a senior Adelaide priest. Hepworth hit out at reports he was considering dropping his claim, saying there has been no change in the standoff between both parties. Archbishop Hepworth claims he was raped by the priests over a period of Read more
Senator Nick Xenophon has indicated he might not have used parliamentary privilege to name a priest accused of raping John Hepworth, now an Anglican Bishop, had he known the man was about to take leave. Adelaide Catholic priest Monsignor Ian Dempsey said it was “totally unfair and unjust” of the independent SA senator to use Read more
Though Archbishop Hepworth complained to the Adelaide archdiocese of sexual abuse, the diocesan authorities claim that he did not authorise an official investigation until early this year. The Adelaide Archdiocese has provided a letter to The Advertiser that shows Archbishop Hepworth only signed a request for the investigation in February this year despite receiving a request from Read more
Two letters have been sent to Senate president John Hogg about Senator Xenophon’s naming of Msgr Ian Dempsey under Parliamentary privilege. A Senate committee will consider the complaints. One of the letters was from Msgr Dempsey and the other from civil libertarian Terry O’Gorman who is urging an investigation into the naming of the priest, Read more
South Australian senator Nick Xenophon, on Tuesday evening, used parliamentary privilege to name and shame an Adelaide priest, Monsignor Ian Dempsey, accusing him of raping and sexually abusing Traditional Anglican Communion Archbishop, John Hepworth. Xenophon dismissed the presumption of innocence in Parliament, saying in his opinion the Adelaide Archdiocese had taken too long to resolve the Read more