Abuse Inquiry: Bishop Brian Heenan ‘feels Shame’

By Sarah Elks
The Australian
April 21, 2015

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The retired Catholic bishop of Rockhampton has told victims of child sexual abuse at a church ­orphanage that he feels “a terrible sense of shame and disgrace over what happened to you”.

Brian Heenan yesterday ­directly addressed the now adult survivors of abuse at Neerkol, the notorious orphanage run by the Sisters of Mercy nuns for decades until 1975.

“(I have realised) how dreadful it must have been for (you),” Bishop Heenan told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

“I just want to say to (the survivors) again, my heart goes out to you and it’s been reinforced this week because of what you shared with us.

“I feel a terrible sense of shame and disgrace over what happened to you at Neerkol.”

The royal commission has been sitting in Rockhampton, in central Queensland, for a week, and has been told of horrific sexual abuse by priests and physical abuse by nuns at the orphanage.