AUSTRALIA
ABC News
By Charlotte King
The Catholic bishop who presided over the Ballarat diocese during some of its worst years of child sexual abuse by priests has been laid to rest.
Retired Bishop Ronald Mulkearns spent 26 years heading up the Ballarat diocese between 1971 and 1997, but his funeral went almost unnoticed.
Around 30 friends and family attended the small service at the chapel adjoining his Ballarat nursing home, Nazareth House.
The bishop died last week from cancer at the age of 85.
The clergy presence was purposefully minimal but Father John McKinnon, a close friend of the retired Bishop, emerged shortly after the service.
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