Child sex abuse inquiry: A time to stop the suicides

By John Ferguson
Australian
May 17, 2015

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/child-sex-abuse-inquiry-a-time-to-stop-the-suicides/story-e6frg6z6-1227358175880

Even when Gerald Ridsdale was a young man he had the habits of a sinful old bastard.

Almost from the moment he was ordained in 1961, the Catholic Church in Australia’s most vicious offender was up to no good.

With his ear to the local gossip — perhaps even in the confessional when parishioners across western Victoria’s vast plains purged their fears and regrets — Father Gerry would be poised, waiting anxiously for the information he needed.

Word of a broken home, a death in the family, financial troubles; any weakness would do.

With this knowledge, Ridsdale — 81 on Wednesday — would swoop on grieving families, pretending to be offering wise counsel and pastoral relief. Doing the Lord’s work.

All the while, he was quietly preying on the parish’s children.

The more fragile the child the better for Father Gerry.

He has been convicted of abusing 54 children, but it is quietly speculated that Ridsdale’s victims can be counted in their hundreds.