CRIMES OF THE CROSS
A searing expose of institutional child abuse, and the remarkable story of the survivors who would not be silenced
From a report on ABC TV’S 7.30 program, screened just before the royal commission’s public hearing into the Anglican diocese of Newcastle commenced, I learned of a sinister paedophile ring of priests demonic in their cruelty. A bishop and a few church officials turned whistle-blowers were openly talking. Michael Elliott, an ex-policeman hired by the diocese to deal with sexual abuse complaints, told of files tampered with and documents gone missing. He told 7.30 that former bishops undoubtedly knew of the paedophile priests, and that one of the priests answering a child-abuse hotline was an abuser himself. “There were groups of child sexual abusers that were working together,” he said. As Elliott went about his work, he was targeted; there were death threats, his car and home were repeatedly vandalised, and his beloved family dog disappeared. John Cleary, the diocesan business manager who had hired Elliott to investigate, was also targeted. He told 7.30 of a death threat received just before he gave evidence in the Supreme Court about Graeme Lawrence, the former dean of the cathedral, who was facing defrocking for child sexual abuse. The bishop of Newcastle in 2016, Greg Thompson, spoke of having been sexually abused by a former bishop, Ian Shevill, in 1975, when he was a teenager. Thompson spoke of “mates protecting mates” and a Sopranos-style protection racket.
Anne Manne is an Australian journalist and social philosopher who has written widely on feminism, motherhood, childcare, family policy, fertility and related issues. She is a regular contributor to The Age and The Monthly. Her books include Quarterly Essay 29: Love & Money, The Life of I: The New Culture of Narcissism and Motherhood – which was shortlisted for the 2006 Walkley Nonfiction Prize.
‘This story gripped me from the first page and refused to let go. The courage expressed, the vividness of the writing . . . This book is a singular achievement, and I cannot recommend it more highly.’
—Jess Hill, author of See What You Made Me Do