Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson, who appointed Michael Abbott to conduct an investigation into the claims, said, “Mr. Abbott found that there is no substance to the allegations made by Archbishop Hepworth.”

Hepworth’s breakaway group of Anglicans is seeking membership in the Anglican ordinariate established by Pope Benedict XVI. In 2010, Hepworth met with congregations and Anglican bishops across Canada, where Toronto Archbishop Thomas Collins is in charge of the process of forming a Canadian ordinariate.

Wilson said Nov. 28 that the investigation’s conclusions were arrived at “after an examination of all of the relevant facts and circumstances.”

“Mr. Abbott’s report is a significant document of over 150 pages, including multiple annexures, and it reflects a very extensive and completely thorough investigation of every aspect of Archbishop Hepworth’s allegations,” Wilson said.

“I am satisfied that Mr. Abbott examined all of the allegations raised by Archbishop Hepworth. He personally interviewed 29 witnesses, including many who were present at the time that the events were alleged to have occurred. He also examined a very large body of relevant documents, including those still in existence from the period dating back to the relevant period.”

The archbishop said he did not intend to release the report publicly for a number of reasons, “not the least of which is that it contains significant personal and sensitive information which all parties are entitled to have respected.”

The identity of the still-living priest, Msgr. Ian Dempsey, became known only when Sen. Nick Xenophon named him in the Australian Parliament, despite pleas by the archdiocese to refrain, pending an investigation.

Dempsey, who runs a suburban parish, vigourously denied the claims.

Hepworth declined to take part in the inquiry, claiming that “we have not been given enough information to have confidence in it and we have objected to Abbott doing it on substantial grounds.” Hepworth was ordained a Catholic priest in the 1960s but left and became an Anglican in 1974.

Hepworth told The Australian newspaper in mid-September that he left the Catholic priesthood decades ago after being sexually abused as a seminarian and young priest in the 1960s and 1970s. The archdiocese of Melbourne compensated him for his complaint against two priests, now deceased, but he talked to the press after he said his allegation against the one surviving priest was not investigated by the archdiocese of Adelaide.

Wilson said he also had the lawyer examine the question of whether the archdiocese delayed responding to the abuse allegations.

“In this regard, Mr. Abbott found that there was no basis for any criticism or complaint about how the archdiocese of Adelaide dealt with Archbishop Hepworth’s allegations. He found that the matter was handled in a completely appropriate and professional way, in accordance with proper procedures and sensitivity towards Archbishop Hepworth,” Wilson said.

The secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Fr. Brian Lucas, said the situation would not upset plans for the establishment of an Anglican Ordinariate in Australia.