Royal Commission into Child Sex Abuse Reveals Port Pirie Had One of Highest Rates of Abusive Catholic Priests

By Carleen Frost
The Advertiser
February 6, 2017

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THE Catholic Church diocese of Port Pirie had one of Australia’s highest rates of alleged child-abusing priests over a 60-year period, disturbing new figures have revealed.

The Royal Commission into Institutionalised Responses to Child Sexual Abuse yesterday released the vile extent of systematic sexual exploitation committed by 1880 perpetrators across Australia, representing seven per cent of priests from 1950 to 2010.

In a survey of 10 religious institutes and 75 church authorities, the diocese of Sale in Victoria was listed as the worst with 15.1 per cent of its priests accused of abuse, with Port Pirie ranked third with 14.1 per cent.

In contrast, the Diocese of Adelaide had one of the lowest reports of abusers within the church at 2.2 per cent, with a total of 222 cases of reported abuse over six decades.