John Fleming (priest)

John Irving Fleming is an Australian priest and bioethicist. He was the founding president of Campion College.[3] Fleming was originally an Anglican priest but later became a Roman Catholic priest. He is currently suspended from public ministry.

The Reverend

John Fleming
Born
John Irving Fleming

(1943-06-12) 12 June 1943[1]
Port Lincoln, South Australia, Australia[1]
NationalityAustralian
EducationUniversity of Adelaide, Australian College of Theology, Griffith University
Home townAdelaide, South Australia, Australia
Spouse(s)Alison
Children3
Parent(s)Thomas Robert and Gwenda May Fleming[1][2]
Ecclesiastical career
OccupationCatholic priest, previously Anglican priest
Years active1995 – present
ReligionChristian
ChurchRoman Catholic, previously Anglican

Early career and background

The son of an Anglican priest, Fleming graduated with 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".[4]

Career

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.

As an Anglican priest in the early 1970s he served as university chaplain and priest in charge of St Paul's Church in Adelaide and dean and vice-master of St Mark's College at the University of Adelaide. Between 1977 and 1978 he was assistant curate at St. Nicholas Church, Chiswick, in West London; and between 1978 and 1987 was the rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd, Plympton. As a Roman Catholic lay person, between 1987 and 1995, he was the founding director of Southern Cross Bioethics Institute. As a Roman Catholic priest, Fleming was director of the Southern Cross Bioethics Institute between 1995 and 2004; and from 2001, a faculty member of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family. He served as the founding president of Campion College between 2004 and 2009. He was an Adjunct Professor of Bioethics at the Southern Cross Bioethics Institute, until its closure in 2012.

He has served on a number of bioethics boards including as a foundation member of UNESCO's International Bioethics Committee (1992-1996); and between 13 July 1996 and 13 July 2016, a corresponding member of the Pontifical Academy for Life.[5] Fleming was a member of the SA Council on Reproductive Technology (1998-2004) and a Member of the Gene Technology Ethics Committee (from 2002) set up under the Australian Gene Technology Act 2000.

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.[6]

Community

Fleming was an elected delegate to the 1998 Australian Constitutional Convention associated with Australians for Constitutional Monarchy.[7] In 2003, he was appointed by the Howard Government to the council of the National Museum of Australia with his term ending in 2009.[8]

Personal

Fleming 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.[9]

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.[10][11] In December 2012 the investigations into these allegations had not been finalised.[12] The case commenced 7 October 2014.[13]

Between 2014 and 2016, he pursued a high profile, but unsuccessful, defamation action against The Advertiser and Sunday Mail in the Supreme Court of South Australia regarding reports of alleged sexual misconduct as an Anglican priest.[14]

On 24 February 2016, Fleming lost his defamation case against The Advertiser and Sunday Mail regarding articles alleging sexual misconduct.[15] 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."'[16] with costs awarded against him.[17]

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.[14]

Fleming lodged an application for special leave to appeal with the High Court of Australia, the application was refused as it did 'not raise a question of general importance. None of the applicant's proposed appeal grounds enjoys sufficient prospects of success to warrant a grant of special leave. Special leave should be refused with costs.'[18][19]

It was decreed under canon law on 9 February 2017 by Philip Marshall, Vicar General of the Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide, that Fleming was to immediately cease all forms of ministry.[20]

Bibliography
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  • 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 978-0-85910-203-2CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • 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 978-0-646-19012-9CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • 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 (2003). "The Code and The Guide – practical instruments for practical people : a reply to Cannold". Res Publica. Melbourne. 12 (1): 16–19.
  • 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 978-1-921032-64-6CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • 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. "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. "Campion College Australia Names Its First President, Campion College, New South Wales" (Press release). Catholic News.
  4. Fleming, John Irving; Griffith University. Division of Humanities. (1992). Human rights and natural law : an analysis of the consensus gentium and its implications for bioethics (Thesis (Ph.D.)). Division of Humanities, Griffith University. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
  5. "Former members Rev. FLEMING, John Irving". About us. Pontifical Academy for Life. Archived from the original on 31 July 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  6. Rodrigues, Marilyn (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. Archived from the original on 25 April 2017.
  7. Warhurst, John (29 June 1999). "Appendix 1: Delegates to the 1998 Constitutional Convention". Constitutional Convention to Republic Referendum: A Guide to the Processes, the Issues and the Participants, Research Paper 25, 1998-99. Canberra: Australian Parliamentary Library.
  8. "Appendix 1: Council and committees of the National Museum of Australia". Annual Report 2009-10. National Museum of Australia. 2010.
  9. Hunt, Nigel (30 August 2008). "Father John Fleming involved in sexual misconduct claims". The Advertiser. Adelaide, South Australia. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
  10. Hunt, Nigel (15 May 2011). "Priest move 'disrespectful'". Sunday Mail (SA). Adelaide, South Australia.
  11. Fleming v Advertiser-News Weekend Publishing Company Pty Ltd and Advertiser Newspapers Pty Ltd [2012] SASC 58, Supreme Court (SA, Australia)
  12. Hunt, Nigel (16 November 2012). "Handling of sex claims against Father John Fleming set to head to national royal commission". The Advertiser. Adelaide, South Australia.
  13. Courts Administration Authority of South Australia, Civil Lists
  14. Fleming v Advertiser-News Weekend Publishing Company Pty Ltd and Advertiser Newspapers Pty Ltd & ANOR [2016] SASCFC 109, Supreme Court (Full Court) (SA, Australia)
  15. The case was heard under the civil law jurisdiction under the South Australian Defamation Act of 2005.
  16. Fewster, Sean Fewster; Hunt, Nigel (25 February 2016). "Father John Fleming 'a criminal, moral coward', Supreme Court rules". The Advertiser. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  17. Fleming v Advertiser-News Weekend Publishing Company Pty Ltd and Advertiser Newspapers Pty Ltd & ANOR (No 2) [2016] SASC 26, Supreme Court (SA, Australia)
  18. Fleming v Advertiser News Weekend Publishing Company Pty Ltd & Anor [2017] HCA 7, High Court (Australia)
  19. Hunt, Nigel (9 February 2017). "Disgraced Catholic priest Father John Fleming loses final bid to overturn defamation verdict". The Advertiser. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
  20. Marshall, Philip (9 February 2017). "Statement from Vicar General on Fr John Fleming" (Press release). Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
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