"He was responsible and accountable for his priest's behaviour." "That's where the system, the people who ran the system, failed her," Wendy McCarthy says. Hollingworth wrote back saying, "… having listened to and absorbed the stories of both yourself and Donald Shearman and his wife, there is a very wide discrepancy in your respective recollections of events and their outcomes … their life, too, has been racked with much pain and suffering". She wrote to the archbishop, demanding he prevent Shearman from preaching. When Dr Hollingworth allowed Shearman to continue as a priest, Beth was furious. "I wanted him to hear my side of what had happened," she says. And then-archbishop Hollingworth later cancelled his promised meeting with her. That was of paramount importance to Beth.ĭuring the mediation, Shearman confessed to abusing her as a minor. So, she wrote them a letter from Shearman's point of view, explaining what had happened and reassuring them she'd done nothing wrong, which she wanted him to sign. In a subsequent letter to Beth, the archbishop confirmed he had received them.īeth's estrangement from the parents she adored - who had died years earlier - still gnawed at her, but she felt she had found a way to make peace. "And, basically, I'd advise them all not to mess with her."ĭisgraced former Anglican Bishop Donald Shearman ( Supplied)Īhead of the mediation, Beth had sought help from a psychologist and a social worker, who wrote reports outlining the ongoing impact that the abuse had on her. "What we've seen is the metamorphosis of a country girl into a very sophisticated campaigner," former school friend Wendy McCarthy says. It found he had committed misconduct but was still fit to be a priest. Two weeks ago, survivors' hopes the board would recommend Dr Hollingworth be defrocked were dashed. "For the good of the people who've been impacted, for the good of the reputation of the church, even though that's very much secondary." I think that would be a reasonable thing," Archbishop Smith says.
"I would say on the basis of all that I'm aware of, it would be a good thing to step back and resign his orders. And he has some advice for Dr Hollingworth. In an interview with Australian Story in the lead up to the inquiry's findings being released, Archbishop Smith called for a review of the church's professional standards processes, including those concerning bishops and former bishops.
( Getty Images: PA Images/John Stillwell/File) Dr Hollingworth and his wife meet with the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, in 2001 at Buckingham Palace.
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