What are the limits on the power and authority of the clergy and lay leadership of a Parish and officers and senior clergy of Sydney Diocese of the Anglican Church of Australia to prosecute pseudo-criminal proceedings against an ordinary parishioner?
In its’ prosecution of the Dobbs family, the leadership of Figtree Anglican church (in Wollongong NSW Australia), the director of the Professional Standards Unit (PSU) of the Anglican church of Australia, Sydney diocese, the then Chancellor of the Diocese Peter Grogan QC, the members of the Professional Standards Committee (PSC) and the investigator Ken Taylor, appointed by the PSU all, either willfully or with blinding incompetence, tried to argue that Dr. Dobbs held a position of leadership in the parish (as a volunteer) and therefore the PSU had jurisdiction to act against him and his family in relation to the deluded allegations brought by Lee Nicholls on behalf of her 20-year-old daughter, Emma. This was because he had served espresso coffee to parishioners and others at outreach events and after regular services using a commercial coffee machine he had presented to the parish and which he and one of his sons had trained as baristas to use. For all sorts of reasons this was nonsense, which is discussed in this article, which was first published on the website Anglican Future Louise’s Page in 2009.
It has been updated, because Figtree Anglican church still have not carried out the directions of the then Archbishop and undertaken a reconciliation process with the Dobbs family.
Leadership, Ministry & a Coffee Machine revised 2018