I pushed his hand away and said: ‘No, Father’

The dean of St George’s Cathedral, Michael Weeder, counselled Gavin Hendricks and facilitated his meeting with his alleged abuser. Asked why, Weeder says: “Look, I’m not neutral in this. I have my own history with this kind of thing, with my own parish priest trying to seduce me.”

Weeder then details how, at the age of 14, he nearly fell victim to sexual abuse at the hands of a trusted clergyman.

Along with other parish boys, the young Weeder would often visit the priest at the parish house.

“It was a classic situation of working-class laaities … You know, we came from homes where there was no electricity, but at the parish house there was even a radio. I mean, we could fry eggs there,” he laughs wryly.

“I was a young 14-year-old,” he says. “I was always wearing shorts and, I don’t know, maybe I came across as a bit effeminate. One day, [the priest] arranged for the kids to go out on an outing for ice cream. But when I got [to the parish house], the others weren’t there. There was nobody except me and the priest. We went anyway, and he drove to Mnandi beach. He parked the car there … in die bos. I was very uncomfortable sitting there with my priest, staring out at the bushes. I felt — I knew — that, on some level, I was fighting for my life.”

Recalling another incident, Weeder adds: “At another outing, Father put his hand on my knee. He then started sliding his hand up my inner thigh. I pushed his hand away and said: ‘No, Father.’”

The incidents left an indelible mark on the young man who would eventually head the oldest cathedral in Southern Africa. “Something profound happened to me then,” he says. “There was a shift in me; a shift in my affection.”