The Anglican Diocese of Ballarat is no longer seeking to buy the former Presbyterian St Andrew’s Kirk building on Sturt Street, instead refocusing on the National Redress Scheme for sexual abuse survivors.
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At its 32nd annual synod last weekend, a motion was passed to fully support the Commonwealth Government’s scheme.
Bishop Garry Weatherill’s address said the diocese had concerns with “unnecessary delays” and a lack of opportunities for institutions to “test claims”, but reiterated the diocese would participate “because it is the right thing to do”.
“(T)he potential liabilities, even for a small diocese like ours, are high,” his speech said.
“The Scheme looks like it is heavily weighted towards survivors, with hardly any opportunity for institutions to test the claims made. Nevertheless, we must engage as fully as we can to respond with love and remorse to those who have suffered abuse while in our care.”
Speaking to The Courier, Bishop Weatherill said the amount of money the diocese would be “billed” by the government was “unknowable” at this point, but could be in the millions of dollars.
“We dealt with a motion later in the synod committing ourselves to participate as fully and positively as we possibly can to deal with the claims made by survivors of abuse, (which) passed,” he said.
“We’ve already suffered incredible damage over our failure in the past to deal with these things properly, we can’t let people down again.”
The government was focused on dealing with the church as a whole, rather than individual diocese, which is why it is important for each diocese to support the scheme.
“The diocese are a bit slow in joining, we’re one of the first to apply,” he said.
“We had some of the biggest disagreements about whether we should join or not, but we’re absolutely committed to it, and we’re really keen for the rest of the church to be committed to it as well.”
The vacant St Andrew’s Kirk, or Presbyterian cathedral, has been conditionally sold to developer after being on the market for eight years.
The Anglican diocese was in talks to buy the property, but negotiations failed.
Bishop Weatherill said the church’s money would be better spent elsewhere.
“How much do you commit to buildings and how much do you commit to programs and people?” he said.
“We run a breakfast program here every morning for between about 30 to 50 people - if we’re going to spend money, it’s better to put money there than making sure we don’t have leaky gutters at St Andrew’s.”
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