AUSTRALIA
The Age
May 29, 2015
Chris Johnston
What are the connections between three senior Catholic Church leaders and notorious paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale? Both inside and outside of the child sexual abuse royal commission these connections are being tested and incrementally revealed, despite Ridsdale’s evidence this week full of noticeable omissions and memory lapses.
Take Thursday, for example, down at Fairhaven outside a nice house on the Great Ocean Road, occupied by former bishop Ronald Mulkearns, 83. He was named this week as the “pivotal person” responsible for failing to prevent rampant child sexual abuse at Catholic institutions in Ballarat in the 1970s, moving Ridsdale around the state and overseas as the allegations against him piled up.
Fairfax Media reported last year the Ballarat Catholic diocese paid for a $60,000 renovation on the coastal house. Another media outlet reported in 2013, after a stroke, that he leads an “active lifestyle” down the coast. The former bishop is not before the commission, citing ill health. Despite that he took an interesting visitor yesterday, who has admitted the royal commission was discussed.
The visitor was retired Catholic priest John McKinnon, who spent his working years at parishes in western Victoria, including Ballarat. He now lives in Hamilton.
The ABC went to Fairhaven to knock on former bishop Mulkearns’ door and while he declined to comment, they found Father McKinnon outside. He was most talkative. Asked what the pair discussed inside, he said: “Obviously the royal commission was part of it, but we don’t want to talk about that all the time.”
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