NEWCASTLE Anglican Bishop from 1978 to 1992, Alfred Holland, has died as a church disciplinary tribunal considered action against him following damning child abuse royal commission findings.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Bishop Holland died on October 8. A private family funeral was held on October 17.
He was ordained in 1953 and arrived in Newcastle to become bishop after Ian Shevill.
During Bishop Holland’s tenure renovation work on the ageing cathedral was completed and Dean Graeme Lawrence was appointed.
Bishop Holland left Newcastle in 1992 and was replaced by Bishop Roger Herft.
Both men were referred by Newcastle Anglican Diocese to the Australian Anglican Church’s Episcopal Standards Commission in July, while former Assistant Bishop Richard Appleby was referred to the diocese’s professional standards committee, after the child abuse royal commission made adverse findings against them in 2017.
Bishop Holland was strongly criticised for repeatedly saying he knew nothing about serial Anglican child sex offenders Peter Rushton, James Michael Brown and Stephen Hatley Gray, despite documents and evidence to the royal commission from people who said they had reported child sex allegations to him.
The commission was told the bishop had a “do-nothing approach” to matters of sexual impropriety.
The commission found Bishop Holland failed to take any action to report or risk manage notorious child sex offender priest Peter Rushton once he was made aware of allegations against him, and failed to provide appropriate support to survivors and their families.
The commission also found Bishop Holland received child sex allegations against Brown but did nothing. The lay preacher was not convicted of committing child sex crimes against children until 2012, with 13 victims sexually abused after Bishop Holland was first told Brown was sexually abusing children.
The commission rejected Bishop Holland’s “implausible denials” about his knowledge of Anglican child sex offenders in his diocese. On Thursday the Episcopal Standards Commission advised Newcastle Bishop Peter Stuart it was taking no further action to investigate Bishop Holland for breaching the church’s standards after the commission.
