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Church discipline case over - leaders cleared

5:11pm Tuesday, 4th October 2011

John Sandeman

A long-running legal saga centred on a local church minister telling a middle-aged man that he was discomforting the church’s young women by hanging around with them, is over.

Management consultant Bruce Haddon was refused leave to appeal in a defamation case he brought against Dominic Steele, minister at Village Church Annandale, and Evan Batten TV news reporter, a member of the Parish Council.

If nothing else the case shows how careful a church has to be when disciplining its members. Steele and Batten were able to show the court just how they had gone about disciplining Haddon following complaints by young women in the church.

This means that the case is over and that Steele’s earlier victory has been confirmed. Steele is the founder of the Christians in the Media ministry in Sydney and the writer and presenter of the “Introducing God” evangelistic series. A second version of Introducing God is currently being videoed.

It was the women of Village Church Annandale that made the difference when their Pastor, Dominic Steele, was first sued for defamation by the disaffected pewsitter Haddon.

As the legal newsletter Justinian cheekily put it, a "bevy of beautiful blondes" appeared in the court confirming their discomfort over Haddon's behavior and comments.

Justice Carolyn Simpson believed the evidence of the young women, Batten and Steele. After a long wait following the judge's decision that Steele and Batten were vindicated, Haddon appealed.

Haddon’s appeal had two main arguments: that allegedly defamatory emails sent around to tell church office holders that Haddon was ‘warned off’ went too widely because some people had joint email accounts, and that Steele had used Haddon’s conduct as a pretext for getting rid of him when, in fact his real motive was to avoid Haddon challenging his theology. Both arguments were rejected by Justice Roger Giles and President of the Court of Appeal Justice Allsop..

Eternity was present at the original trial when Steele and Batten “came after fierce attack” as Kieren Smark SC recounted, on the question of whether Haddon’s behaviour was the real ground for complaint. Both the minister and the parish counsellor were believed by the Judge.

“I could be bankrupted,” Haddon told Eternity during the appeal. His counsel stated that “one side” of the original thirteen day trial in the Supreme Court had cost half a million dollars.

However Eternity understands an approach has been made by the defendant's lawyers for Haddon to come up with a lesser figure (how much he can afford to pay). The appeal by Haddon was dismissed with costs as well.

Bruce Haddon has not found another church home since being ejected from the Village Church. He told Eternity that he was still writing Christian songs “but not as prolifically as before”. At the time of the original trial he told the SMH he feared his gift for composing would dry up.

"We are thanking God, our lawyers and those who prayed in regards to this," Steele emailed after the appeal verdict. "I think that this difficult chapter in our lives is finally closed." Dominic Steele has found the case a major distraction from his ministry, he uses the term "difficult chapter" advisedly. He remains a believer in church discipline, but has insight into how easily it can end up in court, and how meticulous the process has to be.

Both Justices made the point that expending a lot of money for little possible gain (Justice Simpson set putative damages - if Haddon had won) was no ground to appeal. It was a broad judicial hint that they thought the case should not have been brought in the first place.

Another church discipline case has also entered a second phase. Hedley Fihaki is defying Uniting Church Authorities by remaining at his parish in Cairns, despite the Queensland UCA removing him from the position. Fihaki refused to close a homeless persons shelter after church authorities urged him to act for health and safety reasons. Fihaki wanted a little longer to find homes for the people involved.

Fihaki has taken his case to the Fair Work Tribunal, appealing against his dismissal. This raises the complex issue of whether church ministers are employees.

"However, since most Christian churches do not regard their clergy as employees, the Queensland Synod is not convinced that the claim lies within the jurisdiction of Fair Work Australia and FWA will decide the outcome of that," Qld UCA Moderator Bruce Johnson told the Cairns Post.

Fihaki prefers the FWA Tribunal to any church appeal mechanism. His congregation are still paying his salary.