SUSPENDED Adamstown Anglican priest Reverend Chris Bird has been given six months to rehabilitate himself or be permanently removed from the church, in a decision published today by a church tribunal that includes shocking new allegations about the jailed abuser and defrocked former Dean of Christ Church Cathedral, Graeme Lawrence.
The Professional Standards Board determination accepts evidence that in 2018, months after the Royal Commission finished and with charges against him pending, Lawrence allegedly sexually forced himself on a then-23-year-old male parishioner after forcing him to watch graphic child pornography on Lawrence's mobile phone.
They were parked in the car near the Adamstown church, St Stephen's.
The determination finds Reverend Bird was aware of what had happened and had "failed to report the disclosure of sexual abuse of Witness A to the NSW Police Force or to any other authority", including the church's director of professional standards, and failed to provide pastoral support (or any "other form of support") to the parishioner.
The determination said Witness A initially joined the diocese at Christ Church before moving St Stephen's, where he regarded Reverend Bird as "a role model".
Having met Lawrence, Witness A said he became aware of "the criminal charges pending against" him and alleged Reverend Bird "took every opportunity to minimise or negate" Lawrence's part in the crimes with which he was charged.
The determination, written by board president and retired NSW District Court judge Margaret Sidis finds the sexual assault allegation "proved to the required level of satisfaction".
Another complaint involved Reverend Bird's divinity class at Newcastle Grammar School in the 1980s, and his "flick(ing) the girl's bra straps as they sat" in the room.
Ms Sidis accepted that one girl's mother reported this to the head mistress at the time, and found Reverend Bird's conduct toward this girl was assault.
The determination also found Reverend Bird tried to "bully, harass and intimidate" another priest after Reverend Bird was named in the Royal Commission in 2016 and his position as honorary police chaplain put on hold.
It found he "harassed" outspoken abuse survivor and church critic Steve Smith at a synod meeting in 2016 and assaulted him with an elbow to the stomach. It found he threatened and intimidated a church office worker that same year.
Lawrence was defrocked in 2012 and the determination canvasses his subsequent presence at St Stephen's. It finds Reverend Bird disparaged the Professional Standards Office and its work.
Ms Sidis handed down the decision this morning in an online hearing watched by about two dozen people.
Her determination says the board was examining "the questions" referred to it to see whether Reverend Bird was fit to retain church office, having been suspended on August 14, 2020.
He had been at St Stephen's since 1989, and at Christ Church as minor-canon-in-residence for three years before that.
It noted that Reverend Bird had dispensed with his lawyers in August last year, telling the board: "I am not engaging any legal representation and on medical advice I am not participating in the proceedings."
Although the board was provided with documents indicating Reverend Bird was depressed, Ms Sidis said she decided to proceed on "the papers" before her.
Mr Smith, who watched the proceedings online, said he was disappointed that the matter would "drag on for another six months".
"He's clearly not fit to hold clerical office and in my opinion never was," Mr Smith said.
- THE Herald's full Shine The Light file, with all our coverage of the clerical child abuse controversies, is here.
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