BishopAccountability.org
 
 

The Good Fight

Weekend Australian
May 6, 2017

https://myaccount.news.com.au/theaustralian/subscribe?pkgDef=TA_SDO_P0415A_W04&directSubscribe=true&b=true&sourceCode=TAWEB_WRE170_a&mode=premium&dest=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/weekend-australian-magazine/the-good-fight-francis-sullivans-mission-for-catholic-atonement/news-story/02cac604c7e7a9148eaf63c9ce1c1b17?nk=87fe92848a6b74b93bb6b4e37615e389-1494096910&memtype=anonymous

There have been many grim days for Francis Sullivan over the past few years, but none worse than the day in 2015 when Gerald Ridsdale’s face was broadcast live into a Ballarat hearing room from Victoria’s Ararat prison. Sullivan works for the Catholic Church as the CEO of its Truth, Justice and Healing Council, and is tasked with dealing with the almighty mess of child abuse.

On this day, the Royal Commission into ­Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse wanted answers from Ridsdale about what his superiors knew and when. Ridsdale is a child rapist, a Catholic priest convicted of abusing more than 50 kids, some as young as four. The first complaints to the church about his abuse were in the early 1960s, within a year of his ordination, and each time his crimes became an embarrassment he was shifted to a fresh parish where he offended again.

Sullivan, 60, was in the room with the victims, many of whom he’s come to know. He freely hands out his business card with his phone ­number on it. They call at all hours and he listens. “It was the middle of winter, an already bleak day in Ballarat,” he explains, “and Ridsdale’s image was beamed onto a big screen in the [royal commission] hearing room packed with many of his ­victims. It was the first time many had seen him since they were children and they were people my age. Some were dressed in their Sunday best, some as best they could.”

They sat, eyes glued to the screen, seeking answers. “The most galling thing was that he played them all again; the way he gave his evidence was so manipulative and I thought, ‘God, these poor blokes, this is so terribly upsetting for me, and he did nothing to me – what must it be like for them?’ ” After all Ridsdale had put them through, he was not prepared to offer the solace of truth about how his offending had gone unchecked for so long. “I remember leaving the hearing and really feeling quite disoriented,” Sullivan says. “I looked at these poor blokes outside with the media all over them like a rash, which is good for them on one level, but then the circus moved on. They left and went back to their broken lives… I felt really, really bad that day.”

Sullivan trudged back to his hotel room, opened a bottle of red and wrote a poem, trying to make some sense of the misery. He thought about the failings of the church, an institution he still believes in. He thought, My mob has got to change.

 

 

 

 

 




.

 
 

Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.