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"They Were Empty Words': Abuse Survivors Lose Faith in George Pell's Roman Vow

By Melissa Cunningham
The Age
April 1, 2017

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/they-were-empty-words-abuse-survivors-lose-faith-in-george-pells-roman-vow-20170331-gvarep.html

For years, Dominic Ridsdale held a secret locked inside him.

The fear his uncle, disgraced paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale, held over him was so entrenched it stopped him disclosing his sexual abuse until 30 years later.

Clergy sexual abuse survivors Tony Wardley and Dominic Ridsdale outside St Alipius church. Photo: Luka Kauzlaric

"He told me if I told anyone, I would die," Dominic said.

"I pushed the pain further and further down until I slid down into a hole and I couldn't find my way out."

The presbytry, church and school of St Alipius in Ballarat.

Dominic battles depression, severe anxiety and has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

He was one of thousands of survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy who broke their silence during the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

It was a catalyst for shedding years of shame and torment.

"It was like this weight was lifted," he said.

Gerald Ridsdale outside court with George Pell in 1993. Photo: Geoff Ampt

"The more I talked about it, the less it killed me on the inside."

After almost 1460 days, the inquiry concluded its final public hearing on Friday.

Paul Levey addressing the media in Rome last year. Photo: Getty Images

While survivors lauded the royal commission for allowing them to share their stories, some say the inquiry only skimmed the surface of the sexual abuse epidemic.

One key figurehead who did not escape criticism was Cardinal George Pell.

Cardinal George Pell, speaking in Italy last year. Photo: Getty Images/Marco Di Lauro

Survivor Paul Levey said he'd lost all faith in Cardinal Pell, who stood on the steps of the Hotel Quirinale in Rome last year, pledging to help the survivors and do something to stop suicides of victims in Ballarat.

Fairfax Media has previously revealed details of confidential police reports that count at least 40 suicides by people sexually abused at the hands of Catholic clergy in Victoria, but that number has only grown.

Convicted paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale giving evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse in Ballarat. Photo: Damian White

"He's [Cardinal Pell] done nothing since then," Mr Levey said.

"They were empty words. He was just waiting for us to go away and hoping we couldn't come back."

in 1982, when he was 14, Mr Levey was sent to live with Gerald Ridsdale by his father, after he'd struggled to cope with his parents' separation.

Clutching a walking stick and with tears streaming down his face, Mr Levey broke down as he told the inquiry in 2015 he was "sexually abused all the time, just about every day".

"That moment changed my life," Mr Levey says today.

"I always thought I was the only one, but there were thousands of others out there carrying this pain."

He said it was unfathomable that Cardinal Pell did not know he was being sexually abused by Ridsdale.

Mr Levey was one of 15 Ballarat clergy sexual abuse survivors who travelled 16,000 kilometres to Rome to bear witness to Cardinal Pell's evidence to the sexual abuse inquiry.

The commission had accepted a medical report which said the cardinal was at risk of heart failure if he made the journey back to Australia.

Mr Levey said he wants to see canon law rewritten to compel Catholic priests to report to authorities when a person confesses to child sex crimes.

Tony Wardley was abused by multiple Christian brothers and a Catholic nun while he was a schoolboy at the former St Alipius Boys School in Ballarat.

"[The commission has] done everything in its power and been extremely compassionate to survivors but there will always be more to uncover," Mr Wardley said.

"It doesn't matter if you tell the clergy to swear on the bible and tell the truth, they never will. But the thing is, this destruction stretched further than just clergy ... there were coppers and others who turned a blind eye too."

"But you can't change the past. All you can do is learn from it and make sure it never happens again by enforcing ironclad laws to protect kids and I believe that starts with a public register of sex offenders."

Ballarat was an epicentre of the Catholic clergy paedophile crisis.

At least four Christian Brothers teaching at St Alipius in the early 1970s were child sex offenders, as was parish priest Ridsdale.

Scores of Ballarat survivors lay their broken hearts on the line during the inquiry, most detailing a destructive pattern of depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, mental health problems and suicide attempts.

Peter Blenkiron. Photo: Eddie Jim

Peter Blenkiron, was 11 when he was raped by disgraced Christian Brother Edward Dowlan.

He said an ongoing support system and redress scheme which provided individualised care for victims was yet to be established.

"Besides raping children being wrong, misused power by any organisation destroys lives," Mr Blenkiron said.

"It's imperative that children are kept safe into the future and those damaged in the past are not just given redress but a holistic safety net of support so premature death is not the only pathway forward."

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