CANBERRA, Australia — An assistant bishop is set to become the most senior Anglican in Australia to be defrocked after a church committee on Tuesday found he took no action when he was told a priest had sexually abused a child.
Assistant Bishop Richard Appleby has 28 days to appeal the decision by the Professional Standards Board of the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle to strip him of all roles in the church other than parishioner.
Appleby’s lawyer, Peter Skinner, said he had yet to receive instructions from his 78-year-old client on whether he would appeal.
The church investigation follows criticisms of Appleby in the government-commissioned Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which made its final report in December 2017.