TAC recycles pedophile priest

The Traditional Anglican Church has been severely criticized by an Australian judge who says he is "astonished" the church allowed Wilfred Edwin Dennis to re-enter the priesthood and commit sexual child abuse "strikingly similar" to crimes for which he was convicted in the 1970s.

More:

During his trial, the court heard Dennis had told the Archbishop of the Traditional Anglican Communion - a splinter group from the Anglican Church - that he had molested "more than 40" boys during his priesthood with the Anglican Church.

Dennis has appealed the conviction.

TAC, a sect, not part of the Anglican Communion, is pursuing entry into the Roman Catholic Church under Benedict XVI’s Apostolic Constitution (Anglicanorum Coeti­bus). According to its leader, Archbishop John Hepworth, "“The ball is in our court. We asked for this [the Anglicanorum Coeti­bus] and this is what we got. This is becoming Anglican Catholics, not Roman Catholics."

Mark Harris has a good primer on TAC.

The Roman Catholic Church has its own problems with pedophiles, and lack of discipline:

And then there's Austin Invereigh, British Isles blogger for In All Things, who's got a heavy load to tote on the recent summit meeting His Holiness held with the Irish episcopacy on the gigantic priest pedophile cover-up scandal in the Emerald Isle.

"The Irish bishops just don't get it" is the title of post--but the real point that Invereigh can't bring himself to utter except obliquely and in the passive voice--is that it's the pope who doesn't get it. Here are the key graphs:

But Dr Martin's approach was defeated in Rome, and the other bishops returned home happy. Only one has had his offer to resign accepted. And from what they said yesterday, it doesn't look as if anything happened in Rome to shake them out of their denial.

That leaves the Pope's pastoral letter to the Irish people, expected mid-March. But if that doesn't confront the core sin identified by Murphy, the chances of trust being restored in the Church look slim indeed.

Dr. Martin is of course Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, who assuredly does get it, and who signaled his unhappiness with Rome by not showing up at the post-confab dog-and-pony show.
Perhaps TAC should consider Groucho Marx's saying, "I don't want to belong to any club that would have me as a member."

Posted by John B. Chilton on February 24, 2010 11:32 PM | |
Comments (5)

The terrible tragedy of this is hard to take in - and it is just one of many perpetrators who have found new places to abuse in these sects and breakaway churches. More to be revealed sad to say.

Posted by Ann Fontaine [TypeKey Profile Page] | February 25, 2010 12:05 AM

Sounds like TAC is heading in the right direction: to Rome.

Posted by Paul Woodrum [TypeKey Profile Page] | February 25, 2010 9:01 AM

plus ca change... Back in the 90's RC Bishop Donald Wuerl, then of Pittsburgh, had to do battle with the Vatican in order to remove a sexually abusive priest from ministry (you can read the story here.) It seems like some people/organizations never learn.

Posted by Bill Ghrist [TypeKey Profile Page] | February 25, 2010 10:54 AM

You should read the reports of the earlier part of the trial: http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/blackmailed-anglican-catholic-church-priest-wilfred-edwin-dennis-had-41-victims/story-e6freo8c-1225763424483
It was Archbishop Hepworth who contacted the police as soon as he found out about the abuse. Hepworth is certainly guilty of not checking up on this priest. But he did much better than the Adelaide diocese, in my view.
The abuse occurred when Dennis was working for the mainstream Anglican diocese.
Adelaide diocese at that time had a practice of covering up sexual abuse by priests. That policy was overturned by two brave priests (one liberal one conservative)who after trying to gets things corrected internally held a press conference which forced the resignation of the mainstream Archbishop.
The report of the
commission of enquiry which resulted is on the Anglican website Adelaide.anglican.com.au

Posted by Obadiah Slope [TypeKey Profile Page] | February 25, 2010 6:14 PM

comment2: If you read the report of the judges remarks more carefully it is the mainstream anglicans the Judge is criticises.
the Dennis timeline goes like this:
1)Dennis is an Anglican Priest.
2)He is convicted of pedophile offences
3)The Anglican Church lets him back in.
4)He continues to offend.
5)Skip forward a couple of Decades. He joins TAC
6)A victim contacts him and asks for money.
7)He contacts Hepworth and tells Hepworth of his past.
8)Hepworth immediately rings the police.

Posted by Obadiah Slope [TypeKey Profile Page] | February 25, 2010 6:42 PM

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