NO Mass for Vic Bishop Who Moved Abusers

9 News
May 12, 2016

http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/05/12/10/42/memorial-for-catholic-bishop-cancelled

Ronald Mulkearns did not have a funeral befitting a retired Catholic bishop; nor will he even get the public prayers said for dead sinners.

The pain caused by pedophile priests under the 1971-1997 Ballarat bishop's watch is still so raw that the Catholic Church has cancelled a memorial mass planned for Monday.

Bishop Mulkearns covered up abuse by pedophiles he moved between parishes, Ballarat clergy abuse victim Andrew Collins said.

"While he didn't abuse children directly, he essentially facilitated the rape and abuse of children all throughout western Victoria," Mr Collins told AAP.

"And we're not talking about one or two, we're talking about potentially hundreds of children."

Mr Collins said busloads of people had planned to join a silent protest outside Ballarat's St Patrick's Cathedral on Monday.

A petition backed by 2000 people also called for the memorial mass to be cancelled.

Ballarat diocese vicar-general Fr Justin Driscoll said the church needed to listen to the adverse reaction.

"We reconsidered because of the high level of distress that the very proposal for the mass prompted," Fr Driscoll told AAP on Thursday.

"We had concerns that a public gathering for mass in an environment for protest would raise concerns for public safety, it would exacerbate the pain and suffering of victims and survivors and it would also compromise the occasion as one of prayer."

Bishop Mulkearns died from cancer on April 4, before finishing his evidence to the child abuse royal commission.

Appearing briefly via videolink from his Ballarat nursing home in February, the 85-year-old said he was sorry and regretted the way he handled the problem of pedophilia in the diocese.

Fr Driscoll said it was important Bishop Mulkearns acknowledged his own failures and said sorry.

But the outrage over the memorial mass was a significant reminder of the level of distress and pain in the community and the need for sensitivity in the long-term process of healing, he said.

"I think that's what we need to keep listening to," he said.

Fr Driscoll said it was also a challenge for the church, which had a tradition of being able to recognise and pray for sinners, be they convicted murderers or drug runners.

A small private funeral was held for Bishop Mulkearns and he was the first Ballarat bishop not to be interred in the crypt of St Patrick's Cathedral.

Mr Collins said the memorial mass plan had undone previous work by the church, which needed to continue to rebuild trust with survivors and the community.