NSW: Sydney Anglicans ask would-be ministers about sex history

AAP General News (Australia)
04-01-2004
NSW: Sydney Anglicans ask would-be ministers about sex history

By Miranda Korzy

SYDNEY, April 1 AAP - One of Australia's largest churches is scrutinising the sexual
past and preferences of would-be priests in a questionnaire designed to prevent misconduct
among Sydney clergy.

While other churches welcomed the measure by the Sydney diocese of the Anglican Church,
rape counsellors and civil libertarians condemned the questionnaire.

Sydney Anglican Archbishop Peter Jensen today said anyone wanting to become a new priest
in the Sydney diocese or transferring to its ministry from another region had to complete
the questionnaire.

Abuse of children, homosexual relationships, sex outside marriage, use of pornography
and sexual harassment are covered in the eight page confidential questionnaire introduced
early this year.

It also probes involvement in the occult, misuse of drugs, maltreatment of animals,
criminal conduct including driving convictions, and financial conduct such as misappropriation
of funds.

"No one is forced to do it, unless they wish to become a member of the clergy in this
diocese," Dr Jensen said.

The church was not relying on police checks alone because it wanted to investigate
issues not covered by them but important to the character of a minister, Dr Jensen said.

Care of church members was its main purpose but it might also serve as a legal protection
in any future cases involving a priest, he said.

"It's really pastoral rather than legal, in the sense that we are trying to help people
who are entering the ministry and trying to protect the churches and people in them,"

he said.

However, he admitted that candidates could lie.

"It's not infallible," he said.

NSW Council for Civil Liberties president Cameron Murphy condemned the questionnaire.

"At the very least this is going to invade the privacy and open to discrimination the
person completing it," Mr Murphy said.

"At the worst it may incriminate someone."

He said the church should be advising candidates to seek legal advice before completing
the questionnaire.

NSW Rape Crisis Centre manager Karen Willis said the church needed to change its culture
to prevent sexual violence.

"Sexual assault occurs in a culture of secrecy," Ms Willis said.

"If the churches are for real they need to look at their organisations and (carry out)
awareness raising of their priesthood and congregations."

National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA) general secretary John Henderson said
while it showed the church was serious about preventing sexual misconduct, it raised the
issue of whether it believed people could change.

All churches in the council had their own methods of selecting priests including psychological
testing, referees, and interviews, he said.

The Catholic Church said its would-be priests were interviewed by priests and psychologists.

"All seminarians before they start preparations for the priesthood are interviewed
extensively by priests and also by a trained psychologist," a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese
of Sydney said in a statement.

"They have to pass this screening satisfactorily."

The spokeswoman would not comment specifically on the Anglican Church moves.

Sexual abuse and misconduct was discussed by 60 delegates from the 15 Christian churches,
(including Catholics, Anglicans and Uniting) in the NCCA at a March meeting in Canberra.

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KEYWORD: ANGLICANS NIGHTLEAD

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