Surplice To Requirements

the book - Surplice To Requirements
"a cautionary tale"

Cathedral Churches have acted as a strong point of interest for authors ever since Victor Hugo's Le Jongleur de Notre Dame. The brooding presence of a large significant building as the background to tales cautionary or otherwise provides a perfect stage for the foibles of the human condition to display them for all to see. This story is yet another in this genre, however with two exceptions. Firstly the story is true and secondly, it concerns a group of people intimately connected with the life of the cathedral, the members of the cathedral choir.

For legal reasons some of the names in the third section (Outrage) have been changed. These are mainly legal people or people connected with Law Enforcement.

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The scene is Sydney, Australia: St. Mary's Cathedral is an imposing landmark and has the unique benefit of being surrounded by parkland with views to the harbour. It is the mother church of Australian Catholicism and wears its Benedictine Heritage graciously.  For unknown reasons there is a sense of confusion around the attempts to remove the Director of Music from his post. Certainly there is significant evidence of a conspiracy of silence. This leads to an extended court case.

Just like many Churches in the Western World, these last decades has seen it have to deal with issues such as Child Abuse, Authority, a Royal Commission and an engagement with modern civil legal practice that poses the conundrum "How is the law improved to better serve justice".