Roman Catholic Diocese of Ballarat

Victorian government inquiry

In 2012 the Parliament of Victoria established the Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and other Non-Government Organisations. The Inquiry tabled its report to Parliament on 13 November 2013 and the Government tabled its response to the Inquiry's recommendations on 8 May 2014.^[9]

The systemic problem of sexual abuse was highlighted in the Victoria's Police Submission into the parliamentary inquiry into the handling of child abuse by churches.^[10] "Confidential police reports detail the suicides of at least 40 people sexually abused by Catholic clergy in Victoria and say it appeared the church knew about a shockingly high rate of suicides and premature deaths but had chosen to remain silent.^[11]

Cardinal George Pell also confirmed in the Victorian parliamentary inquiry that "some members of the Church tried to cover up child sexual abuse by other members of the clergy" as the ABC states.^[12]

There have been 130 claims and substantiated complaints of child sexual abuse against the Ballarat diocese since 1980. At least 14 priests of the Diocese of Ballarat have been the subject of one or more claims and substantiated complaints of child sex abuse.^[13]

Federal government inquiry

In May 2015, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, a royal commission of inquiry initiated in 2013 by and supported by all state governments,^[14] began an investigation into the response of relevant Catholic Church authorities to the impact of child sexual abuse on survivors of child sexual abuse, their families and the community of Ballarat.^[15] The hearing heard from residents, former students of St Joseph's Home, Ballarat; St Alipius Primary School, Ballarat East; St Alipius Parish, Ballarat East; St Patrick's College, Ballarat; St Patrick's Christian Brothers Boys Primary School, Ballarat; and members of the Ballarat community about the impact of child sexual abuse on the community of Ballarat. Catholic clergy who were convicted of child sexual offences which took place within the diocese were also invited to speak or make statements before the commission.^[16]

During the 2016 Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Ballarat it was found that 853 children, average age 13, had been sexually abused by one or more Christian Brothers^[17] and that at least 30 victims had since committed suicide in Ballarat.^[18] Child abuse complaints were made against 281 Christian Brothers, and the Congregation had paid A$37.3 million in compensation.^[19] It was found that every boy at the school at Mortlake between the age of 10 and 16 had been abused by Gerard Ridsdale and one victim held a photo of a class from St Alipius Primary School and stated that 12 of the 33 boys had committed suicide because of the abuse.^[20][21]

During the Ballarat Case Study of the Royal Commission it was found that Glynis McNeight, a private investigator, was paid for by the Christian Brothers through a retained law firm, Doyle Considine solicitors, pursued victims and their families sexually abused by Brother Edward Dowlan.^[22][23][24] McNeight's report was tabled^[25] which contained strategy to manipulate witnesses such as a victim could be “easily be torn down in the witness box" and "The person himself is a very nervous, excitable type who will reduce to tears and bad language easily".^[26] The report also documents a Senior Constable, Blair Smith, trying to protect victims from harassment from the investigator and perverting the course of justice.^{[27][28][29][30]} Blair Smith was also one of the first detectives to properly investigate a Christian brothers in Victoria, whose work in the early 1990s led to the conviction of Edward Dowlan, he said that the Christian Brothers is "run like a Mafia organisation."^[31] It was also shown that the Christian Brothers knew of abuse from Brothers but did not tell police^[32] and spent almost $1.5 Million defending paedophile Brother Robert Best, Edward Dowlan and Stephen Farrell.^[33] It was found that Christian Brothers' St Alipius School was staffed almost entirely by paedophiles.^[34]

The royal commission's final report on Catholic Church authorities in Ballarat was released on 6 December.^[35] The Commission found that Bishop Mulkearns failed to take action “Bishop Mulkearns again was derelict in his duty in failing to take any effective action to have (infamous paedophile Gerald) Ridsdale referred to police and to restrict Ridsdale's contact with children".^[36] The Commission pointed out to the structure of the Diocese, culture and governance, concluding: “The most likely explanation for the conduct of Bishop Mulkearns and other senior clergy in the Diocese was that they were trying to minimise the risk of scandal and protect the reputation of the Catholic Church. The Melbourne report found that former Ballarat Diocese Bishop Peter Connors was part of a culture that practiced "using oblique or euphemistic language in correspondence and records concerning complaints of child sexual abuse".^[37]

The following are extracts from the conclusion of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse's report into Case Study 28 – Catholic Church authorities in Ballarat:^[35]

This case study exposed a catastrophic failure in the leadership of the Diocese and ultimately in the structure and culture of the Church over decades to effectively respond to the sexual abuse of children by its priests. That failure led to the suffering and often irreparable harm to children, their families and the wider community. That harm could have been avoided if the Church had acted in the interests of children rather than in its own interests.

Euphemistic and elliptical language was often used in correspondence and minutes to mask the true nature of the conduct discussed. There was repeated reference to ‘pressures’, ‘strains’ and unspecified ‘problems’. On occasions, records were deliberately not made or kept or were destroyed.

The result of these inexcusable failures was that more children were sexually abused by Catholic clergy in the Diocese. There was a catastrophic institutional failure which resulted in many children being sexually abused. We heard about the devastating, often lifelong, consequences in the lives of those children. The welfare of children was not the primary concern of Bishop Mulkearns and other senior members of the Diocese when responding to complaints and allegation of child sexual abuse against their priests. There is no doubt it should have been.

The report on Ballarat also described the impact it had on victims. One section outlines suicide and premature death caused from the abuse. One victim said

Newspapers don’t report suicides, so the public doesn’t hear about the broken families and their sha ered lives, about the unseen impact of ins tu onal child sexual abuse. Children are le behind and they don’t understand why. It doesn’t end when the abuse ends.^[38]

Other harms are outlined. Another victim outlines the general harm in the Ballarat community:

Such chronic sexual abuse in the Ballarat community has led to a large number of men who are not able to be produc ve members of society and in e ect have become either emo onal, social or nancial burdens upon the community.^[38]

The Royal Commissions final report published on the 15th December 2017 found that 139 people made a claim of child sexual abuse to the Diocese of Ballarat between 1980 and 2015 and that there was 21 alleged perpetrators identified in claims. Of the 21 alleged perpetrators 17 were priests which is 8.7% of the priests who ministered during this period.^[39] The final report included recommendations including recommendation 16.6 through to 16.26. They include the introduction of mandatory reporting/national standards, screening candidates before and during seminary or religious formation, the introduction of introducing voluntary celibacy for diocesan clergy, to remove the requirement to destroy documents relating to canonical criminal cases in materials of morals, where the accused cleric has died or ten years have elapsed from the condemnatory sentence, amend canon law to remove the time limit (prescripion) for commencement of canonical actions relating to child sexual abuse, the bishop of the diocese should ensure that parish priests are not the employers of principals and teachers in Catholic schools, modifications to canon law and for more transparency.^{[40][41][18][42]}

"Loud Fence"

The iron fence of St Patrick's Cathedral adorned with new ribbons placed by the community after the diocese had removed the previous ones after the royal commission

A community response during the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was "Loud Fence", after prompting by Maureen Hatcher to tie ribbons onto St Alipius' Christian Brothers’ boys’ school fence.^[43][44] Places that had a history of sexual abuse were marked with ribbons as a sign of support for the victims. The Loud Fence movement also spread internationally.^[45] There was also a Loud Fence march in Ballarat.^[46] The diocese removed the ribbons three days after the Royal Commission in to Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse published its final recommendations.^[47][48]

Named sexual abusers or notable cases

Notable sexual abuse cases include:

• George Pell has been charged with historical sexual assault offences that date back to his time at Ballarat in the 1970s.^[49] Pell has pleaded not guilty^[50] and the Court set a date for his committal hearing to commence on 5 March 2018 which is expected to last four weeks.^[51] The cardinal, the third most senior official in the Vatican,^[52][53] is the most senior Catholic cleric in the world to face such charges.^[54][55]
• Gerald Ridsdale, who pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting a total of 53 children by 2006.^[56] and is faced further charges of sexually abusing another 12 children being found guilty on both cases being committed to a total of 33 years in prison.^[57][58] Ridsdale's nephew, David Ridsdale, gave evidence before the commission that his uncle had sexually abused him from the age of 11 to 15^[59][60]
• Robert Charles Best, a Christian Brother, was sentenced in the Victorian County Court for 27 offences involving the sexual abuse of 11 boys.^[61][62]
• Stephen Frances Farrell, a Christian Brother, sentenced in 2013 for indecently assaulting a boy while teaching at St Alipius School in Ballarat in the mid 1970s. This conviction followed a 1997 conviction on nine charges of indecently assaulting two brothers at St Alipius around the same period.^[63][64]
• Paul David Ryan, jailed in 2006 for 18 months after admitting three charges of indecent assault against one victim between 1990 and 1991.^[65][66]
• Edward Dowlan (Ted Bales) pleaded guilty to 33 counts of indecently assaulting boys under the age of 16 and one count of gross indecency between 1971 and 1986.^[67] The judge found that he had preyed on vulnerable boys as young as eight years old over a 14-year period at six different schools from the first year he became a Christian Brother in 1971. Dowlan has been jailed twice first in 1996 for six-and-a-half years and then again in 2015.^[68]
• Peter Toomey, a Christian Brother who admitted to sexually assaulting 10 students at a Catholic high school in Melbourne in 1970s.^[69][70][71]
• Sydney Morey.^[72][73]
• Terrence Pidoto was sentenced to seven years and three months being found guilty of 11 charges including rape and indecently assaulting a child under 16.^[72][74] He died before facing a second trial with new charges only a year into his first sentence.^[75]
• Bryan Desmond Coffey, a priest, pleaded not guilty to charges in February 1999. He was found guilty of 12 counts of indecent assault involving eight boys and one count involving a girl, aged between six and 11 years. He was given a three-year suspended jail sentence.^[76]
• Leslie Sheahan, a parish priest, pleaded guilty in September 2015 to unlawful/indecent assault of a girl.^[77][78]
• Robert Patrick Claffey, a priest, pleaded guilty in 1998 to indecently assault of two boys aged 12 and 13 after their sister died in a road accident in 1978.^[79] In 2014, he was also charged with 16 counts of indecent assault and one count of buggery against about seven child victims between 1970 and 1992.^[80] In October, 2016, he pleaded guilty to the offences and was jailed for 18 years.^[81]
• John Day, has been described as Australia’s most prolific paedophile with more than 100 complaints about the monsignor to the church’s Towards Healing program, set up to deal with allegations of abuse by the clergy. He targeted both boys and girls. The police found that he had "misconducted himself" but did not charge him and the police officer, Denis Ryan, who collected statements of abuse lost his job.^[82] The police were involved in a cover up which have been described as the "Catholic Mafia".^{[83][84][85][86]} The Day case was recently detailed by Casefile True Crime Podcast - Case 34: The Catholic Mafia, aired on 24 September 2016.^[87]
• Leonard Monk.^[66][88][89]
• Peter Colley. Father Peter James Colley pleaded guilty in 1993 to two charges—one indecent assault of an adult male in a public toilet at Moonee Ponds and one charge of escaping from legal custody.^[90]
• Gerald Leo Fitzgerald a Christian Brother. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse found that Fitzgerald was moved moved to new locations with continued access to children after allegations had been made.^[91] One victim described the type of behaviour of Fitzgerald to the Commission: "...Brother Fitzgerald was his grade 3 teacher in 1974. He said that at the end of school every Friday Brother Fitzgerald would line up his students and kiss them goodbye. He kissed some with his tongue."^[71] He died in 1987 before any charges were laid against him.
• Fr Dan Hourigan.^[89][92][93]
• Fr Vincent Sproules.^[94]