A retired Australian priest scheduled to appear before a professional standards board to answer charges of child sexual abuse has died

A retired Australian priest scheduled to appear before a professional standards board to answer charges of child sexual abuse has died. On 18 October 2015 the body of the Rev. Campbell Brown (80) was found in his home near Newcastle, New South Wales. Initial reports suggest Brown took his own life. In 2013 Brown appeared before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in connection with allegations he had abused a boy in the 1960s at the North Coast Children’s Home in Lismore. In a statement announcing his death, the Bishop of Grafton, the Rt. Rev. Sarah Macneil (pictured) wrote: “While many in the Diocese of Grafton remember the Rev Brown’s ministry and friendship with gratitude, there are also those whose memories of him are very different and who have had the courage to come forward and make allegations of abuse against him.” She added:”The tragedy of abuse cuts into our churches and our society bringing deep emotion and pain on many levels. We join with the Bishop of Newcastle, the Right Reverend Gregory Thompson, in encouraging people to be mindful of those who bear great struggles of mind and spirit and in emphasizing how important it is to share the burden with others.”