AUSTRALIA
Radio Australia
Child sex abuse inquiry: Retired Bishop sorry for sexual abuse of children at Queensland orphanage
By Marlina Whop and William Rollo
Retired Rockhampton Bishop Brian Heenan apologises for the sexual abuse of children at St Joseph’s Orphanage at Neerkol in central Queensland and for failing victims when they came forward.
Retired Rockhampton Bishop Brian Heenan has apologised for the sexual abuse of children at St Joseph’s Orphanage at Neerkol in central Queensland and for failing victims when they came forward.
“I apologise again for the harm and suffering of former [residents] at Joseph orphanage residents at the hands of the Catholic Church, priests and sisters and staff,” he said outside the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
“I also apologise for the way in which I responded to these victims. I failed them and for that I’ll be forever sorry.”
Bishop Heenan was cross examined for the second day at the Rockhampton hearings over the church’s responses to the abuse allegations at the Neerkol orphanage from the 1940s to the 1970s.
Father Reg Durham, who was the administrator for the parish of Neerkol and had resided in the presbytery, was charged in 1997 with 40 sexual offences against five former residents and pleaded guilty to six counts of indecently dealing with a child.
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