AUSTRALIA
The Guardian
Melissa Davey
@MelissaLDavey
Thursday 10 December 2015
The chair of a royal commission has rigorously challenged claims by the auxiliary bishop of Brisbane, Brian Finnegan, that he was not aware that a now notorious paedophile priest he had oversight of was suspected of abusing children.
Finnegan was secretary to the bishop of the Ballarat diocese, Ronald Mulkearns, between 1979 and 1985, a period during which Gerald Ridsdale was abusing children in his role as a priest at parishes within the diocese.
Finnegan repeatedly told the commission he had no idea of concerns about Ridsdale abusing children while working for the diocese, despite receiving a telephone call from a mother who told him she was concerned for the safety of her eldest son following his interactions with Ridsdale at a presbytery.
During the phone call, the mother told Finnegan she wanted a private meeting with Mulkearns to discuss her concerns. According to notes of that conversation tendered to the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, Finnegan told the mother there was no need for concern, and there had been no reports of improper behaviour by Ridsdale.
Finnegan also did not help the mother to make an appointment with Mulkearns, and told the commission he doubted he would have informed Mulkearns of the conversation. He also said he did not take the complaint to mean there were concerns about Ridsdale abusing the boy.
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