John Fleming (priest)
| The Reverend John Fleming | |
|---|---|
| Born |
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:
- As an Anglican priest:
- Early 1970s: university chaplain and priest in charge of St Paul's Church, Adelaide and dean and vice-master of St Mark's College in the University of Adelaide
- 1977-1978: assistant curate at St. Nicholas Church, Chiswick in West London
- 1978-1987: rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd, Plympton
- As a Roman Catholic lay person:
- 1987-1995: founding director of Southern Cross Bioethics Institute
- As a Roman Catholic priest:
- 1995-2004: director of the Southern Cross Bioethics Institute
- From 2001: faculty member of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family
- 2004-2009: founding president of Campion College
- Adjunct Professor of Bioethics at the Southern Cross Bioethics Institute until its closure in 2012
He has served on a number of bioethics boards:
- a foundation member of UNESCO's International Bioethics Committee (1992-1996). He was Corresponding Member of the Vatican's Pontifical Academy for Life (from 1996)
- 1998-2004, he was a member of the SA Council on Reproductive Technology
- Member of the Gene Technology Ethics Committee (from 2002) set up under the Gene Technology Act 2000 (Commonwealth of Australia)
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]
Fleming appealed against the dismissal of the claim for damages for defamation to the Full Court of the Supreme Court of South Australia. On 29 September 2016, this appeal was unanimously dismissed when the Full Court found no errors of law were made in the earlier judgement. Costs were awarded against him.[16]
Publications
- Fleming, John Irving; Christian Television Association (1977), Father John's response : answers to questions, Christian Television Association, retrieved 25 December 2012
- Overduin, Daniel Ch (Daniel Christiaan); Fleming, John Irving, 1943- (1982), Life in a test-tube : medical and ethical issues facing society today, Lutheran Publishing House, ISBN 978-0-85910-203-2
- Fleming, John Irving; Fundacion Banco Bilbao Vizcaya; Catedra Interuniversitaria Fundacion BBVA-Diputacion Foral de Bizkaia de Derecho y Genoma Humano (1996), Ethics and the Human Genome Diversity Project, Fundacion Banco Bilbao Vizcaya (BBV Foundation), retrieved 25 December 2012
- Krohn, Anna M; Fleming, John Irving, 1943-; Southern Cross Bioethics Institute (1994), Genetics & ethics, Southern Cross Bioethics Institute, ISBN 978-0-646-19012-9
- Fleming, John Irving; Pike, Gregory K. (Gregory Kym); Ewing, Selena; Southern Cross Bioethics Institute (2002), Human embryos : a limitless scientific resource? : what the Research Involving Embryos and Prohibition of Human Cloning Bill 2002 really allows (1st ed.), Southern Cross Bioethics Institute, ISBN 978-0-9581526-0-0
- Fleming, John Irving; Ewing, Selena; Southern Cross Bioethics Institute (2005), Give women choice : Australia speaks on abortion, Southern Cross Bioethics Institute, ISBN 978-0-9581526-1-7
- Fleming, John Irving, 1943-; Tonti-Filippini, Nicholas (2007), Common ground? : seeking an Australian consensus on abortion and sex education, St Pauls Publications, ISBN 978-1-921032-64-6
- Fleming, John Irving (2010), Convinced by the truth : embracing the fullness of Catholic faith, Connor Court Publishing, ISBN 978-1-921421-11-2
- Fleming, John Irving (2010), Dignitas Personae Explained: The Church's teaching on reproductive and related technologies, Connor Court Publishing, ISBN 978-1-921421-51-8
References
- 1 2 3 "Family Notices.". The Argus. Melbourne: National Library of Australia. 19 June 1943. p. 2. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
- ↑ Fleming, Thomas Robert in Cable Clerical Index accessed 3 March 2014
- 1 2 Press Release: Campion College Australia Names Its First President, Campion College, New South Wales
- ↑ 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
- ↑ 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
- ↑ National Museum of Australia, Annual Report 2009-10 Appendix 1: Council and committees of the National Museum of Australia
- ↑ 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
- ↑ Nigel Hunt (30 August 2008). "Father John Fleming involved in sexual misconduct claims". The Advertiser. Adelaide, South Australia. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
- ↑ Nigel Hunt (15 May 2011). "Priest move 'disrespectful'". Sunday Mail (SA). Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
- ↑ Fleming v Advertiser-News Weekend Publishing Company Pty Ltd and Advertiser Newspapers Pty Ltd [2012] SASC 58, District Court (SA, Australia)
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Courts Administration Authority of South Australia, Civil Lists
- ↑ The case was heard under the civil law jurisdiction under the South Australian Defamation Act of 2005.
- ↑ Sean Fewster and Nigel Hunt, (25 February 2016), Father John Fleming ‘a criminal, moral coward’, Supreme Court rules, The Advertiser Retrieved 25 February 2015
- ↑ Fleming v Advertiser-News Weekend Publishing Company Pty Ltd and Advertiser Newspapers Pty Ltd & ANOR (No 2) [2016] SASC 26, District Court (SA, Australia)
- ↑ Fleming v Advertiser-News Weekend Publishing Company Pty Ltd and Advertiser Newspapers Pty Ltd & ANOR [2016] SASCFC 109, Supreme Court (Full Court) (SA, Australia)