AUSTRALIA
The Age
February 26, 2016
Melissa Cunningham
When Cardinal George Pell likened the Catholic Church’s responsibility for child abuse to that of a trucking company in his last evidence to a child sex abuse inquiry, clerical abuse survivor Peter Blenkiron clenched his teeth so tightly he cracked his tooth.
For years Mr Blenkiron, who was abused by disgraced Christian Brother Edward Dowlan when he was 11, battled suicidal thoughts, but he says he is one of the lucky ones. He’s still here.
Mr Blenkiron is among 14 Ballarat clerical abuse victims who will travel 16,000 kilometres to Rome this weekend to see Cardinal Pell give evidence once more to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
The survivors will be in the room at the Rome’s Hotel Qurinale where on Monday Australian time, Cardinal Pell will take the stand to give evidence about his time as an adviser to former Ballarat bishop Ronald Mulkearns.
The trip follows a national crowd-funding campaign to help the survivors bear witness to Cardinal Pell’s evidence in Rome after the inquiry accepted a medical report which said the he was at risk of heart failure if he made the journey back to Australia.
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