By Jeannette McMahon
ABC Newcastle
April 5, 2011
http://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2011/04/05/3182854.htm?site=newcastle
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| Bishop Michael Malone will step down in a few months and hopes to travel around Australia. |
After 16 years as Bishop of Maitland-Newcastle, Michael Malone will step down in a few months. In recent years the local diocese has been buffeted by claims of sexual abuse and the Bishop says he's proud he confronted the issue so strongly, even though it made him unpopular with some in the Church.
Pope Benedict XVI last night announced that Bishop Malone's replacement will be Reverend William Wright, currently Parish Priest of All Saints Liverpool.
Bishop Malone told 1233's Jill Emberson it's an announcement he's been waiting for.
"I've been waiting for this now for well over a year, so I must admit I'm rather chuffed that it's now come," he says.
"And I think the choice of my successor, William Wright, I think he's a good man, I think he'll be very good for this part of the world."
Bishop Malone says his replacement is 58 years old, and is very experienced having worked in many parts of Sydney and country NSW, including challenging areas such as Mt Druitt and Moree.
The 71-year-old Bishop admits dealing with the problem of sexual abuse within the Church has taken its toll.
"It's been tough, I'd have to say," he told Jill.
"In asking for assistance, as I did towards the end of 2009, I was advised that perhaps the best way to go about it would be when I was ready, to offer my resignation.
"So I put in the resignation and I've been waiting as I said for just over a year now.
"But in that year there's been some awful scandals in different parts of the Church, in Ireland and in Europe, Germany particularly, and these have I think just further affected the status of the Church in the eyes of many people."
Jill asked whether the Catholic Church has learnt from these difficulties.
"I think the jury's out a bit on that," Bishop Malone says.
"I know that sections of the Church have learnt a very serious lesson, but sometimes I wonder whether the penny has dropped where it ought, in the halls of authority and hierarchical structure of the Church.
"I still sense that there's a denial that these sorts of things are as bad as perhaps they've been made out to be, and that worries me a little to say the least.
"When it comes to sexual abuse within the Church it's very important for the Church to admit its fallibility and to admit that these things have happened on the Church's watch.
"And in admitting that, to apologise for the dreadful harm that has caused to many people, not only the immediate survivors but also their families and friends and parish communities.
"You know, the ripples go wide with this whole matter."
It's a source of pride to the Bishop that he took a strong stance on sexual abuse even though it wasn't popular in some quarters.
"I'm proud that I have confronted the issues as strongly as I have, the issues of sexual abuse," he says.
"I'm proud that in a sense I took a stance that was unpopular with other bishops and while it was a difficult place to be, is something that I found necessary and I was pleased that I did it."
Bishop Malone's dream is to travel around Australia, and after that he says he'll make himself available for pastoral placements.
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