AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald
Joanne McCarthy
16 Jun 2017
RETIRED Newcastle solicitor Lou Pirona lost a son who was sexually abused by a Catholic priest, and whose suicide in 2012 after “too much pain” was the catalyst for a royal commission.
Now Mr Pirona is speaking up for survivors of sexual abuse at his old school, St Stanislaus College, Bathurst, over a controversial apology at the college on Friday and the Vincentian order’s failure to acknowledge the full extent of crimes committed there.
“I just wanted the survivors to know I support them. I wanted them to know I understand a little bit of the impact of these sorts of things, so it really comes from the heart,” Mr Pirona said.
Survivor Damien Sheridan and son Zakarie, survivor Tor Nielsen and mother Carole, St Stanislaus Old Boy Terry Jones and NSW Greens MP and justice spokesman David Shoebridge will hold a vigil outside the college on Friday from noon. They will protest against an apology during a liturgy at the school where the crimes occurred, which a leading survivor group said would be “inherently re-traumatising” for many people.
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