AUSTRALIA
The Standard
By MARY ALEXANDER
April 29, 2013
REPRESENTATIVES from the Catholic diocese of Ballarat will front the state parliamentary inquiry into child sex abuse today.
They will appear at a public hearing in Melbourne, where inquiry committee members will also hear from other Catholic groups including St John of God brothers and the Salesians. Representatives from the Christian Brothers and the Catholic Education Office are due to appear on Friday.
The Ballarat diocese has been slammed by victims and their families for covering up claims of abuse by priests and brothers in the past.
The worst offender was Gerald Ridsdale, a former priest who served in more than 10 parishes including Warrnambool and Mortlake.
Ridsdale was jailed in 1994 after pleading guilty to 46 charges of sexually abusing 21 victims over two decades.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.