An Anglican priest has been stripped of his Holy Orders and suspended by the church amid "disturbing" allegations of assault, bullying and intimidation over two decades.
An investigation by the church looked into the conduct of Father Chris Bird, once a priest at St Stephens church in the Newcastle suburb of Adamstown, in relation to several alleged incidents.
Father Bird did not take part in the investigation by the Professional Standards Board, with his doctor submitting that he was not medically fit to do so.
The ABC has been unable to contact him.
The board found Father Bird failed in 2018 to provide pastoral care or report information to police and the church after a man in his 20s came to him alleging he had been sexually assaulted in a car by the former Dean of Newcastle, Bishop Graeme Lawrence.
Lawrence was jailed in 2019 for the sexual assault of a teenage boy in the 1990s.
Assault threats and bullying
In another alleged instance, the board found Father Bird "harassed and assaulted" Steven Smith at an Anglican Synod in 2016.
Mr Smith had been abused by a different Anglican priest in the 1970s.
In a statement to the church's standards board, Mr Smith said Father Bird stared at him for a lengthy period, then stood next to him and "deliberately, forcefully drove his left elbow into the side of my stomach".
"He used enough force to cause me to bend forward and quickly pull my arm across my body to protect myself from him," the statement said.
"Then he just stood there. We didn't speak. I was unnerved, thrown."
The board found that Father Bird had also assaulted another witness in 1986 while giving a divinity class at Newcastle Grammar School.
It is alleged he grabbed a 13-year-old girl's bra strap "on more than one occasion".
"He pinched my bra strap and the skin of my shoulder with his fingers and held this for a while," she told the board.
The board has also found the priest engaged in "intimidating and threatening" behaviour when he approached a woman in August 2013, while she was working in administration for the Anglican Diocese.
The woman detailed how she was working on documents for the Office of Professional Standards when she was approached from behind by Father Bird who said: "What are you doing getting involved in all that? I know where your kids go to school and where you live".
Father Bird has been stripped of his Holy Orders and suspended from holding office in any church until he can prove to the Anglican Church he has been rehabilitated.
Anglican Bishop Peter Stuart said the adverse findings against Father Bird had given him an opportunity to demonstrate remorse for his conduct.
"The report makes disturbing reading," Bishop Stuart said in a statement.
"I commend the people who experienced these actions for coming forward."
