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Pope Benedict forced Toowoomba bishop Bill Morris to retire
By Sarah Elks
THE Catholic Bishop of Toowoomba says he was forced into early retirement by Pope Benedict and the Vatican, denying his request for more time to support child sex abuse victims. Former Toowoomba Bishop Bill Morris has today frankly described to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse his battle with the Vatican between 2006 and 2011. Bishop Morris was at the helm of the southern Queensland diocese when pedophile teacher Gerard Vincent Byrnes abused and raped 13 eight to ten-year-old girls at a Toowoomba primary school in 2007 and 2008. The Royal Commission is investigating the “catastrophic” abuse at the school, most of which occurred after principal Terence Hayes failed to report an initial sexual abuse complaint against Byrnes to the police in September 2007. Bishop Morris said his dispute with the Vatican and the Pope had earlier roots and was unrelated to the child sex abuse scandal. He said he drew ire in November 2006 when he wrote an open letter about priest shortages, discussing the possibility of the ordination of women and married or widowed men — practices that are not allowed under Catholic canon law. He said Rome then sent an “apostolic visitor” in April 2007 to observe his leadership of the diocese, which is twice the size of Italy. Bishop Morris said he was the only Australian Bishop to be subject to such a visitor in recent memory. In September 2007, he was called to Canberra, at which he said he was presented with an error-filled memorandum from the Congregation of Bishops, criticising his leadership and suggesting he resign. Over the next months and years, Bishop Morris said he refused to resign and asked repeatedly for a meeting with the Pope to discuss the matter. At one point, he was told by a representative of the Pope that: “You can’t speak to the Pope until you resign”. He said he eventually met with Pope Benedict on June 4, 2009, when he was told he needed to resign. Bishop Morris said he was told by the Pope, “I was too practical, very charismatic, gifted ...” but there was no place for him at the helm of the diocese, he would be found another job in the church. He still refused to resign, and in 2009, he suggested he could retire two years early, or at the end of the claims process brought by the Byrnes’ victims, which had by this stage been brought to light. Byrnes had been arrested in November 2008, after another parent of a molested child took a complaint to police. Bishop Morris said he received a letter back from the Vatican telling him his early retirement would occur on May 2, 2011. He wrote again, asking for the period to be extended to allow him to support the child sexual abuse victims through the compensation process. He said his request was denied. The civil claims against the Toowoomba diocese brought by victims of Byrnes eventually paid out more than $3m in damages in relation to offences committed against nine girls. The Royal Commission continues.
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