Read in Churches of the Diocese on 12 December 1999

Dear Friends,

On Sunday 26 September you were read a Pastoral letter indicating that I had resigned as your Bishop. The events of the past have been a source of deep regret. Since my resignation I know that media coverage has been a source of further pain to the woman concerned, for which I am also profoundly sorry.

I have done my best to act openly, honestly and with integrity. My resignation in September was made in that spirit.

Since that time Margaret, my family and I have been profoundly moved by the love and care that has been extended to us by the people of the Diocese and, equally significantly, by the wider community. These have been very painful and distressing days for us, but they have also been grace filled days.

As I said in my September letter, we have never doubted that the Diocese would continue to love us, but the extent of that love has been deeply humbling.

From the outset there have been calls for us to return. While appreciating them, our inclination was not to accept that possibility we had already experienced enough pain. However as the letters (we have received well over 1,000) and other messages began to mount, it became impossible to be deaf to this call. I thus agreed to a decision of Bishop in Council to call a Special Synod.

The synod vote has totally humbled us.

We have wanted God and the people of the Diocese to guide us. We understand that such a vote could only be possible if the voice of God and the voice of the people have been as one: therefore, it is with great humility that I have decided to accept the Diocese's request and have signed a document under seal officially withdrawing my resignation.

The future will not be the same as the past. After such pain amongst us and between us it would be naive to think that things could be the same. They cannot. However, different does not necessarily mean less, impoverished or impaired. This experience has changed me as well as you. Under God I have been encouraged to believe that what lies ahead can and will be the best of years. My decision is made in that belief.

From the pain of the last few months new strengths have already emerged: I had not experienced darkness of such intensity, yet to discover that God is there. Faith has been strengthened. Letters I have received give a new connection with those on the edge of faith. Perhaps the journey I have travelled and its cost strike a chord in the hearts of many others. The love of Margaret, my family and my friends has been constant and uplifting. Relationships have grown.

The Diocese can now find increased unity, strength and integrity with enhanced clerical and lay leadership.

The pain has made us all focus upon our lives and the life of the Church; all that we do and the priorities we choose must derive their validity from the Gospel itself.

We were nourished by those who found the language to reach us in our despair. Many were people not associated with the Church's hierarchy, but came from among the young, the poor, the aboriginal community, the broken and the searching. We can all be found more and more in their company.

I would like to conclude by expressing profound thanks to Bishop Richard, my personal assistant Annette Larwood and the Diocesan Registrar, Brian Norris, who have so magnificently stepped into the breach to carry the Diocese, me and everyone else. I would like to thank the Senior Staff of the Diocese for their continuous, not uncritical, but unqualified love and support. I would like to thank the media for their dispassionate commentary. In my retreat I was of course removed from the immediacy of it, but I know that the media's integrity has contributed to an environment in which we can all arrive at a point of healing.

I was also comforted by words of the Governor General, who encouraged me to believe the Scripture that "all things work together for good for those who love God".

I now move forward with you all in profound humility that I should be twice called, believing that God's grace will wonderfully abound.

Bishop George Browning
7 December 1999