AUSTRALIA
Perth Now
By Megan Neil
AAP
EVEN Gerald Ridsdale says he should never have been a priest.
THE 81-year-old says he’s sorry “so many others” could have been saved had Catholic Church figures who knew he was abusing children gone to police.
Two Ballarat bishops knew of Ridsdale’s crimes, one as early as 1961, and two Sydney archbishops knew he had “sexual problems” and should be kept away from children, an inquiry has heard.
Ridsdale was moved between numerous Victorian parishes before being sent to a desk job in Sydney, a move senior counsel assisting the royal commission Gail Furness SC said was designed to get him away from parishes and access to children.
Documents before the child sex abuse royal commission show Ballarat Bishop Ronald Mulkearns first agreed on conditions for Ridsdale’s transfer with the Archbishop of Sydney Cardinal Sir James Freeman.
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