AUSTRALIA
The Australian
STUART RINTOUL From: The Australian June 01, 2013
MELBOURNE Archbishop Denis Hart says “community safety” should be given priority in any decision to parole one of Australia’s worst pedophiles, former priest Gerald Ridsdsale, who could be freed from jail within a month.
Asked what the church’s position was on Ridsdale’s release and what support the church would give him if he he was parolled, Archbishop Hart said: “I think the community will look very carefully at what he’s done, what is best all over, because I think safety in the community has to be a priority.”
Archbishop Hart did not go so far as to say he opposed Ridsdale’s release, saying: “I’d leave that to the authorities, I think.”
Ballarat Bishop Paul Bird said that as a defrocked priest of the Ballarat diocese, the diocese had no obligation to provide Ridsdale with any support and had no intention of doing so.
“When we first heard the possibility of his release that question came up and that is clearly our policy,” Bishop Bird told The Weekend Australian.
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