John Fleming (priest)

The Reverend
John Fleming
Born (1943-06-12) 12 June 1943[1]
Port Lincoln, South Australia, Australia[1]
Nationality Australian
Education University of Adelaide, Australian College of Theology, Griffith University
Occupation Catholic priest
Years active 1995 – present
Home town Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Religion Christian (Catholic, previously Anglican)
Spouse(s) Alison
Children 3
Parent(s) Thomas Robert and Gwenda May Fleming[1][2]

John Irving Fleming is an Australian priest and bioethicist. He was the founding president of Campion College.[3]

Career

John Fleming was a high profile Anglo-Catholic priest in the Anglican Church of Australia's Adelaide diocese. He was ordained in 1970. He became a Roman Catholic in 1987. Although married with three children, he was given a papal dispensation permitting his ordination in the Catholic Church in 1995.

During his career he has been:

He has served on a number of bioethics boards:

Media

Fleming was a weekly columnist of The Advertiser in Adelaide and presented radio programs for a number of years. In 2005, while the president of Campion College in Sydney, Fleming hosted a short-lived talkback radio program on 2UE.[4]

Community

Fleming was an elected delegate to the 1998 Australian Constitutional Convention associated with Australians for Constitutional Monarchy.[5] In 2003, he was appointed by the Howard Government to the council of the National Museum of Australia with his term ending in 2009.[6]

Education

Fleming has a B.A. from the University of Adelaide, a Licentiate in Theology from the Australian College of Theology and a Ph.D. in philosophy and bioethics from Griffith University.[3] His Ph.D. thesis was titled "Human rights and natural law : an analysis of the consensus gentium and its implications for bioethics".[7]

Personal

Fleming is the son of an Anglican priest. He is married to Alison and they have three children.

Allegations of abuse

Subsequent to his appointment to Campion College, media reports were published alleging sexual impropriety by Fleming with a number of people when he was an Anglican priest. It was stated that the allegations were known to the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide, the Most Reverend Leonard Faulkner, at the time of his Roman Catholic ordination in 1995 and thus also at the time of his appointment to Campion College in 2004.[8]

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Adelaide reinstated Fleming as a priest in 2011 and he initiated a defamation case against the Sunday Mail in regard to a number of stories published on the complaints and investigations.[9][10] In December 2012 the investigations into these allegations had not been finalised.[11] The case commenced 7 October 2014.[12]

On 24 February 2016, Father John Fleming, lost his defamation case against The Advertiser and Sunday Mail regarding articles about his sexual misconduct.[13] The Supreme Court of South Australia ruled 'the articles truthfully conveyed imputations that Fr Fleming was engaged in "sexual misconduct, predatory sexual behaviour, morally reprehensible and deceitful conduct, an immoral, adulterous, homosexual affair, hypocrisy, abuse of trust, moral cowardice and false denial of sexual involvement."'[14] with costs awarded against him.[15]

Publications

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Family Notices.". The Argus (Melbourne: National Library of Australia). 19 June 1943. p. 2. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
  2. ↑ Fleming, Thomas Robert in Cable Clerical Index accessed 3 March 2014
  3. 1 2 Press Release: Campion College Australia Names Its First President, Campion College, New South Wales
  4. ↑ Marilyn Rodrigues, (30 October 2005), It's good to be a priest, says talk-back host: A conversation with Fr John Fleming, bioethicist and Campion College president, The Catholic Weekly, Sydney
  5. ↑ Appendix 1: Delegates to the 1998 Constitutional Convention in John Warhurst, (29 June 1999), From Constitutional Convention to Republic Referendum: A Guide to the Processes, the Issues and the Participants, Research Paper 25 1998-99, Australian Parliamentary Library, Canberra
  6. ↑ National Museum of Australia, Annual Report 2009-10 Appendix 1: Council and committees of the National Museum of Australia
  7. ↑ Fleming, John Irving; Griffith University. Division of Humanities. Thesis (Ph.D.), 1992 (1992), Human rights and natural law : an analysis of the consensus gentium and its implications for bioethics, Division of Humanities, Griffith University, retrieved 25 December 2012
  8. ↑ Nigel Hunt (30 August 2008). "Father John Fleming involved in sexual misconduct claims". The Advertiser (Adelaide, South Australia). Retrieved 25 December 2012.
  9. ↑ Nigel Hunt (15 May 2011). "Priest move 'disrespectful'". Sunday Mail (SA) (Adelaide, South Australia, Australia).
  10. ↑ Fleming v Advertiser-News Weekend Publishing Company Pty Ltd and Advertiser Newspapers Pty Ltd [2012] SASC 58, Supreme Court (SA, Australia)
  11. ↑ Nigel Hunt (16 November 2012). "Handling of sex claims against Father John Fleming set to head to national royal commission". The Advertiser (Adelaide, South Australia, Australia).
  12. ↑ Courts Administration Authority of South Australia, Civil Lists
  13. ↑ The case was heard under the civil law jurisdiction under the South Australian Defamation Act of 2005.
  14. ↑ Sean Fewster and Nigel Hunt, (25 February 2016), Father John Fleming ‘a criminal, moral coward’, Supreme Court rules, The Advertiser Retrieved 25 February 2015
  15. ↑ Fleming v Advertiser-News Weekend Publishing Company Pty Ltd and Advertiser Newspapers Pty Ltd & ANOR (No 2) [2016] SASC 26, Supreme Court (SA, Australia)
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