Dear Members of the Diocesan Family

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse:

Yesterday, the Diocese received correspondence from the Royal Commission requesting information that is required to be submitted by Friday 27 November, 2015.
There are several areas that the Diocese has to address in relation to reporting and record keeping. The Royal Commission is seeking documentation in regard to The Church of England Boys’ Society (CEBS). The Diocese has very little information in its archives. I am asking parishes to please search their files for any information in regard to CEBS and to forward it to the Diocesan Archivist no later than the close of business on Wednesday 18th November, 2015.
Information that is being sought is:

i) The nature of any past and/or present relationship between the Anglican Diocese of North Queensland and any branch or State Council, in regard to legal, financial and/or administrative relationships, governance arrangements, staff and record keeping of CEBS.
ii) The nature of relationships between the Diocese, and any campsites used by CEBS for its camping activities, including child protection policies and procedures maintained by the Diocese in respect of youth attending camps at those venues from 1 January 1965 to 2 November 2015.

This is an important matter and I ask all parishes not only to search their files but to ask parishioners if they know of any material that people may hold. If there is material please forward it to the Diocesan Archivist by the 18th of this month. If there is a nil return please let the Diocesan Archivist know that you have searched the parish files and found no information.

I thank you in anticipation. I realize that the notice is short but I have sought to give the parishes as much time as possible to provide information.

Also, I remind Parishes that they are to have on their noticeboard the telephone numbers for people to report sexual abuse. It was drawn to my attention that one parish did not have the notice displayed. This has since been rectified thank you. Since then I have noticed that other Churches/Worship Centres have also been in breech.
The notice needs to be as printed as at the end of each Bulletin.

The Installation of the Reverend Canon John Simons:
John will be installed as Canon, holding the St. John’s stall, at 5.00pm on Thursday 12 November, 2015 at the Cathedral.

The service will take place in the context of Evening Prayer. The Dean leads the installation and I will say a few words.

The Coop Family:
We congratulate Brianna on achieving a bronze medal for the 100 metre sprint at the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha (QAT) in October. This is a wonderful achievement.
Lysandra has undergone her surgery in Brisbane and she is making very good progress. We assure Lysandra of our love and prayers for a full recovery.

Wishing you every blessing.
Yours in Christ,

The Right Reverend William (Bill) Ray
Bishop of North Queensland

Sexual Abuse contact line: 1800 242 544 or 07 3835 2266