Disgraced bishop Ronald Mulkearns leaves his estate to the Ballarat diocese

news.com.au
September 6, 2016

http://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/news/disgraced-bishop-ronald-mulkearns-leaves-his-estate-to-the-ballarat-diocese/news-story/df991e293ec33c1ae11e8494eb372e24

Ballarat child abuse survivors believe Ronald Mulkearns should have left his estate to them. Photo by Mike Dugdale

Ronald Mulkearns’ property in Aireys Inlet on the Great Ocean Road. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

The disgraced bishop was blamed for allowing paedophile priests in Victoria to move around the state and continue working, turning a blind eye to their actions and the victims of their abuse.

Bishop Mulkearns died in April and now it has been revealed his $2.1 million estate has been given to the Ballarat Diocese, which has become a controversial area due to the traumatic abuse that took place there. There have been more than 100 claims of child abuse within the diocese since 1980.

The Herald Sun reports Bishop Mulkearns said the money he left when he died was to be used by the current bishop of Ballarat for the benefit of the diocese “at his absolute discretion”.

Ballarat child abuse victims believe Bishop Mulkearns’ dying wish is a slap in the face.

“His assets should be distributed to victims whose lives have been destroyed and damaged by his actions,” Ballarat abuse survivor Andrew Collins told the Herald Sun.

Stephen Woods, another survivor of child abuse in Ballarat, said the money should be dedicated to helping victims.
‘That should be the only course of action,” he told the Herald Sun.

“It is both an opportunity to help victims and save some small amount of face for the diocese.”

A Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was set up in 2013 following revelations child abusers were being moved around instead of having their crimes reported.

The child abuse royal commission heard Bishop Mulkearns knew paedophile priest Gerald Francis Ridsdale and others were sexually abusing children and moved them between parishes, and he also destroyed documents in Ridsdale’s file.

Bishop Mulkearns told the commission earlier this year he was sorry and regretted he did not deal with paedophile priests properly, saying he was trying to protect the church’s reputation and stop further offending.