Roman Catholic Diocese of Ballarat

Last updated

Diocese of Ballarat

Dioecesis Ballaratensis
Ballarat-cathedral.jpg
St Patrick's Cathedral, Ballarat
Location
CountryFlag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia
Ecclesiastical province Melbourne
Metropolitan Archdiocese of Melbourne
Coordinates 37°34′18″S143°51′00″E / 37.57167°S 143.85000°E / -37.57167; 143.85000
Statistics
Area58,000 km2 (22,000 sq mi)
Population
- Total
- Catholics		(as of 2006)
Increase2.svg 384,000
Increase2.svg 97,900 (Steady2.svg 25.2%)
ParishesSteady2.svg 52
Information
Denomination Catholic
Sui iuris church Latin Church
Rite Roman Rite
Established30 March 1874
Cathedral St Patrick's Cathedral
Current leadership
Pope Francis
Bishop Paul Bird CSsR
Metropolitan Archbishop Peter Comensoli
Bishops emeritus Peter Connors
Map
Bistum Ballarat.svg
Website
ballarat.catholic.org.au

The Diocese of Ballarat, based in Ballarat, Australia, is a diocese in the ecclesiastical province of Melbourne. It is a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Melbourne and was established in 1874. Its geography covers the west, Wimmera and Mallee regions of Victoria. The cathedral is in St Patrick's Cathedral, Ballarat.

Contents

The diocese has been prominent in Australia for its number of cases of sexual abuse by clergy and members of religious orders. In The New York Times in December 2017 it was stated that "The most damaging revelations about child sexual abuse have centered on scandals in towns like Ballarat" after the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse published its findings. [1] Priests and brothers in the Ballarat diocese were sharing victims, passing on intelligence about vulnerable children, and protecting each other: the abuse was more organised than previously thought since the Royal Commission. [2] A significant ruling in 2021, the first in Australia, found that the diocese can be vicariously liable for compensation regarding abuse that occurred from its own priests. [3]

In May 2020, newly released details of Royal Commission report claimed that former Diocese of Ballarat priest George Pell knew of sex abuse in the church as early as 1973. [4]

History

The Diocese of Ballarat was established on 30 March 1874, from the Diocese of Melbourne. At the same time, the Diocese of Melbourne was made an archdiocese while Ballarat became one of its suffragans.

Bishop Peter Connors retired as Bishop of Ballarat on 1 August 2012 and Father Paul Bird CSsR was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to succeed him. [5] He was ordained bishop on 16 October 2012. Bishop Paul Bird (born 17 July 1949) is a member of the missionary Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorist). [6]

Bishops

Ordinaries

The following individuals have been the Roman Catholic Bishop of Ballarat: [7]

OrderNameDate enthronedReign endedTerm of officeReason for term end
1 Michael O'Connor †24 April 187414 February 18838 years, 296 daysDied in office
2 James Moore †12 January 188426 June 190420 years, 166 daysDied in office
3 Joseph Higgins †3 March 190516 September 191510 years, 197 daysDied in office
4 Daniel Foley †12 April 191631 October 194125 years, 202 daysDied in office
5 James O'Collins †23 December 19411 May 197129 years, 129 daysRetired at age 79. Bishop Emeritus of Ballarat. Died 25 November 1983 [8]
6 Ronald Mulkearns †1 May 197130 May 199726 years, 29 daysResigned. Bishop Emeritus of Ballarat. Died 4 April 2016 [9]
7 Peter Connors 30 May 19971 August 201215 years, 63 daysRetired at age 75. Bishop Emeritus of Ballarat [10]
8 Paul Bird 1 August 201211 years, 174 days

Coadjutor bishop

Other priests of the diocese who became bishops

Other information

The diocese is bounded by the South Australian border (the Archdiocese of Adelaide and the Diocese of Port Pirie), the Murray River (the Diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes) and the Southern Ocean. To the east is the Diocese of Sandhurst and the Archdiocese of Melbourne. The diocese has 52 parishes, 39 clergy and four parish leaders. The seat of the diocese is St Patrick's Cathedral, Ballarat.

Diocese of Ballarat Catholic Education Limited

Secondary schools under the governance of the Diocese of Ballarat Catholic Education Limited (DOBCEL) include: [11]

Child sexual abuse

The Diocese of Ballarat has been part of the Catholic sexual abuse scandal, which includes a series of convictions, trials and ongoing investigations into allegations of sex crimes committed by Catholic priests and members of religious orders. [12]

Victorian government inquiry

In 2012 the Parliament of Victoria established the Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and other Non-Government Organisations. The Inquiry tabled its report to Parliament on 13 November 2013 and the Government tabled its response to the Inquiry's recommendations on 8 May 2014. [13]

The systemic problem of sexual abuse was highlighted in the Victoria Police submission into the parliamentary inquiry into the handling of child abuse by churches. [14] "Confidential police reports detail the suicides of at least 40 people sexually abused by Catholic clergy in Victoria and say it appeared the church knew about a shockingly high rate of suicides and premature deaths but had chosen to remain silent". [15]

Cardinal George Pell also confirmed in the Victorian parliamentary inquiry that "some members of the Church tried to cover up child sexual abuse by other members of the clergy" as the ABC states. [16]

There have been 130 claims and substantiated complaints of child sexual abuse against the Ballarat diocese since 1980. At least 14 priests of the Diocese of Ballarat have been the subject of one or more claims and substantiated complaints of child sex abuse. [17]

Federal government inquiry

In May 2015, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, a royal commission of inquiry initiated in 2013 by and supported by all state governments, [18] began an investigation into the response of relevant Catholic Church authorities to the impact of child sexual abuse on survivors of child sexual abuse, their families and the community of Ballarat. [19] The hearing heard about the impact of child sexual abuse on the community of Ballarat from residents and from former students of St Joseph's Home, Ballarat; St Alipius Primary School, Ballarat East; St Alipius Parish, Ballarat East; St Patrick's College, Ballarat; and St Patrick's Christian Brothers Boys Primary School, Ballarat. Catholic clergy who were convicted of child sexual offences which took place within the diocese were also invited to speak or make statements before the commission. [20]

During the 2016 Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Ballarat it was found that 853 children, average age 13, had been sexually abused by one or more Christian Brothers [21] and that at least 30 victims had since committed suicide in Ballarat. [22] Child abuse complaints were made against 281 Christian Brothers, and the Congregation had paid A$37.3 million in compensation. [23] It was found that every boy at the school at Mortlake between the age of 10 and 16 had been abused by Gerard Ridsdale and one victim held a photo of a class from St Alipius Primary School and stated that 12 of the 33 boys had committed suicide because of the abuse. [24] [25]

During the Ballarat Case Study of the Royal Commission it was found that Glynis McNeight, a private investigator, was paid for by the Christian Brothers through a retained law firm, Doyle Considine solicitors, that pursued victims sexually abused by Brother Edward Dowlan. [26] [27] [28] McNeight's report was tabled [29] which contained strategy to manipulate witnesses, such as a victim could "easily be torn down in the witness box" and "The person himself is a very nervous, excitable type who will reduce to tears and bad language easily". [30] The report also documents a Senior Constable, Blair Smith, trying to protect victims from harassment from the investigator and from perversion of the course of justice. [31] [32] [33] [34] Blair Smith was also one of the first detectives to properly investigate a Christian brothers in Victoria, whose work in the early 1990s led to the conviction of Edward Dowlan; he said that the Christian Brothers is "run like a Mafia organisation." [35] It was also shown that the Christian Brothers knew of abuse from Brothers but did not tell police [36] and spent almost $1.5 Million defending paedophile Brother Robert Best, Edward Dowlan and Stephen Farrell. [37] It was found that Christian Brothers' St Alipius School was staffed almost entirely by paedophiles. [38]

The royal commission's final report on Catholic Church authorities in Ballarat was released on 6 December 2017. [39] The Commission found that Bishop Mulkearns failed to take action: "Bishop Mulkearns again was derelict in his duty in failing to take any effective action to have (infamous paedophile Gerald) Ridsdale referred to police and to restrict Ridsdale's contact with children". [40] The Commission pointed out the structure of the Diocese, culture and governance, concluding: "The most likely explanation for the conduct of Bishop Mulkearns and other senior clergy in the Diocese was that they were trying to minimise the risk of scandal and protect the reputation of the Catholic Church. The Melbourne report found that former Ballarat Diocese Bishop Peter Connors was part of a culture that practiced 'using oblique or euphemistic language in correspondence and records concerning complaints of child sexual abuse'". [41]

The following are extracts from the conclusion of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse's report into Case Study 28 – Catholic Church authorities in Ballarat: [39]

This case study exposed a catastrophic failure in the leadership of the Diocese and ultimately in the structure and culture of the Church over decades to effectively respond to the sexual abuse of children by its priests. That failure led to the suffering and often irreparable harm to children, their families and the wider community. That harm could have been avoided if the Church had acted in the interests of children rather than in its own interests.

Euphemistic and elliptical language was often used in correspondence and minutes to mask the true nature of the conduct discussed. There was repeated reference to 'pressures', 'strains' and unspecified 'problems'. On occasions, records were deliberately not made or kept or were destroyed.

The result of these inexcusable failures was that more children were sexually abused by Catholic clergy in the Diocese. There was a catastrophic institutional failure which resulted in many children being sexually abused. We heard about the devastating, often lifelong, consequences in the lives of those children. The welfare of children was not the primary concern of Bishop Mulkearns and other senior members of the Diocese when responding to complaints and allegation of child sexual abuse against their priests. There is no doubt it should have been.

The report on Ballarat also described the impact it had on victims. One section outlines suicide and premature death caused from the abuse. One victim said:

Newspapers don't report suicides, so the public doesn't hear about the broken families and their shattered lives, about the unseen impact of institutional child sexual abuse. Children are left behind and they don't understand why. It doesn't end when the abuse ends. [42]

Other harms are outlined. Another victim outlines the general harm in the Ballarat community:

Such chronic sexual abuse in the Ballarat community has led to a large number of men who are not able to be productive members of society and in effect have become either emotional, social or financial burdens upon the community. [42]

The Royal Commission's final report published on 15 December 2017 found that 139 people made a claim of child sexual abuse to the Diocese of Ballarat between 1980 and 2015 and that there were 21 alleged perpetrators identified in claims. Of the 21 alleged perpetrators 17 were priests which is 8.7% of the priests who ministered during this period. [43] Cardinal George Pell told the Royal Commission that the concentration of offending was a "coincidence". [44] The final report included recommendations including recommendation 16.6 through to 16.26. They include the introduction of mandatory reporting/national standards, screening candidates before and during seminary or religious formation, the introduction of voluntary celibacy for diocesan clergy, to remove the requirement to destroy documents relating to canonical criminal cases in materials of morals where the accused cleric has died or ten years have elapsed from the condemnatory sentence, amend canon law to remove the time limit (prescription) for commencement of canonical actions relating to child sexual abuse, that the bishop of the diocese should ensure that parish priests are not the employers of principals and teachers in Catholic schools, modifications to canon law, and more transparency. [22] [45] [46] [47]

Following the Royal Commission, the Age reported that paedophile priests in Victoria worked together to share victims and there was more organisation than previously thought. [44]

There have been more revelations through legal proceedings that show that priests and brothers in the Ballarat diocese were sharing victims, passing on intelligence about vulnerable children, and protecting each other; 140 people have made claims of child abuse against the Catholic church in the Ballarat diocese. In Warrnambool seven Catholic priests and Christian Brothers abused children in an almost-continuous stream of paedophile clerics employed between 1963 and 1994. Ballarat diocese and Christian Brothers were also exporting known paedophiles to the US under the guise of "treatment". Notorious paedophile priests Gerald Ridsdale and Paul David Ryan, who molested boys at Warrnambool, were also sent to the US between the 1970s and early 2000s. [2] Bishop Ronald Mulkearns approved both Ryan and Ridsdale's travel to the US for treatment and study, where both are alleged to have sexually assaulted children.

"Loud Fence"

The iron fence of St Patrick's Cathedral adorned with new ribbons placed by the community after the diocese had removed the previous ones after the royal commission Ribbons in iron fence of St Patrick's Cathedral Ballarat.jpg
The iron fence of St Patrick's Cathedral adorned with new ribbons placed by the community after the diocese had removed the previous ones after the royal commission

A community response during the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was "Loud Fence", which was started by St. Patrick's College school principal John Crowley who urged the public to tie ribbons to the school fence before the Royal Commission hearing commenced. He credits the idea and name to an unnamed local survivor, with another survivor coming up with the term "No more silence"[ citation needed ] in February 2014. [48] John was the person who tied the first ribbon. [49] By the day of the first hearing, ribbons had been tied to not only the school fence, but also to the fence of St Alipius Primary School, St Patrick's Cathedral, the entrances to Ballarat East, as well as outside the Ballarat Courts. Survivors at the hearing wore a ribbon pinned to their lapels. After the hearings had started, ribbons were taken down from St Alipius and some members of the community tied them back up. One of those, Maureen Hatcher, then started a Facebook page called "Loud Fence" which is still in operation. [50] [51] Places that had a history of sexual abuse were marked with ribbons as a sign of support for the victims. The Loud Fence movement also spread internationally, with survivors taking it to Rome [52] and even speaking about it at a university in Rome. [53] There was also a Loud Fence march in Ballarat. [54] The diocese removed the ribbons three days after the Royal Commission in to Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse published its final recommendations. [55] [56]

Admitting to protecting Ridsdale and civil lawsuit

On 13 September 2019, the Diocese of Ballarat released a statement admitting that the high-ranking clergy in the diocese knew of sex abuse claims against Ridsdale and afterwards made efforts to shield him from prosecution. [57] This confession came in the wake of a civil lawsuit filed against the diocese by one of Ridsdale's victims. [57] In May 2020, it was revealed that the Royal Commission rejected Pell's defense that he was deceived when he was involved in a College of Consultors decision to move Ridsdale from the Mortlake parish in Ballarat to Sydney in 1982 as "implausible" and that there were "at least complaints of sexual abuse of children having been made." [4] [58] [59]

Named sexual abusers or notable cases

Notable sexual abuse cases include:

Accusations against Pell

In 2017, Pell, who served in the Roman Curia, was extradited from the Vatican to face sex abuse charges stemming from his time in both the Archdiocese of Melbourne and Diocese of Ballarat. [60] The three episode miniseries Revelation , which aired on ABC TV in March 2020, [110] revealed two men, identified as Bernie and Peter Clarke, who accused Pell of sexually abusing them as boys when he served the Diocese of Ballarat. [68] The alleged sexual abuse occurred when Pell spent time at the Catholic orphanage where they resided in the 1970s. [68] [111] [112] [113] The ABC also defended the accuracy of Revelation after Pell's Melbourne conviction was overturned and temporarily removed reruns of the third episode so it could be updated and eventually restored; [114] all three episodes also remain available on ABC Radio's website. [115] On 11 April 2020, it was revealed that Pell stated in an interview with Sky News journalist Andrew Bolt, which aired on Sky News Australia on 14 April 2020, that he was "ashamed" of the way the Catholic Church handled sex abuse cases and that failures to act on the abuse, which he described as "cancer", still haunted him. [116] [117] On 13 April 2020, police began investigating the allegations which were discussed in Revelation. [69] On 16 April 2020, the Richmond Football Club denied Pell the right to be reinstated as the club's vice-patron and ambassador. [118] [119] [120]

On 6 May 2020, it was revealed that the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse report found that Pell knew about the abuse committed by Ridsdale. [58] [121] Pell had also confessed to the Commission that "didn't do anything about it" when a young schoolboy told him that Brother Edward Dowlan was sexually abusing him, but also tried to hide the fact that it was in part his duty to assist in the investigation. [122] These portions of the report were previously undisclosed. [121] On 6 May 2020, it was revealed that the newly disclosed portions of the Royal Commission report found that Pell had attempted to protect Ridsdale from potential prosecution by transferring him when he was a vicar of the Diocese of Ballarat. [123] Pell had also confessed to the Commission that "didn't do anything about it" when a young schoolboy told him that Brother Edward Dowlan was sexually abusing him, but also tried to hide the fact that it was also in part his duty to assist in the investigation. [122]

According to the report's newly disclosed details, which were made public on 7 May 2020, by 1973 Pell was "not only conscious of child sexual abuse by clergy but that he also had considered measures of avoiding situations which might provoke gossip about it." [4] The Commission report also stated that with regards to his role in assisting in Risdale's transfer to Sydney "We are satisfied that Cardinal Pell's evidence as to the reasons that the CEO deceived him was implausible. We do not accept that Bishop Pell was deceived, intentionally or otherwise". [58]

It was also reported that Pell, who was Ridsdale's former 1973 roommate, "tried to bribe" at least one Ridsdale victim, Ridsdale's nephew David Ridsdale, "into keeping quiet." [4] [59] [124] David testified that the attempted bribe took place when he told Pell about the sex abuse over the phone in February 1983. [124] David stated that after he brought up the abuse "[Pell] then began to talk about my growing family and my need to take care of their needs," and that "He mentioned how I would soon have to buy a car or house for my family." [4] David's sisters Patricia Ridsdale and Bernadette Lukaitis also backed his account, telling the royal commission that their brother called them shortly after his conversation with Pell and said Pell had tried to bribe him. [124] Despite not being satisfied with how David interpreted Pell's offer, which was believed to be mere assistance rather than an offer of silence, [59] the Royal Commission accepted that Pell "turned his mind" to Ridsdale taking his boy victims on overnight camps. [4]

Establishment of Institutional Liability List

On 8 May 2020, the Victorian Supreme Court agreed to establish an Institutional Liability List to administer child sex abuse lawsuits [96] The new list includes claims for damages arising from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. [96] Lawsuits against Pell, and also cases concerning sexually abusive Diocese of Ballarat priests such as Ridsdale and Robert Claffey, played a major role in the list's creation. [96]

See also

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References

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  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Perper, Rosie. "George Pell, a former advisor to Pope Francis and Australia's most senior Catholic cleric, knew about child sex abuse within the Catholic Church for decades, report alleges". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 14 May 2020. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
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  34. ↑ "The church hid the crimes of Brother Ted Dowlan (alias Ted Bales) — but Broken Rites helped to expose this cover-up | Broken Rites Australia". www.brokenrites.org.au. Archived from the original on 16 December 2017. Retrieved 25 December 2017.
  35. ↑ "Violent and sexually 'defective': A long history of abuse at the hands of the Christian Brothers". ABC News. 21 December 2017. Archived from the original on 23 December 2017. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
  36. ↑ "Brothers' handling of abuse 'indefensible'". 3 May 2013. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
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