AUSTRALIA
Courier Mail
By Genevieve Gannon
From: AAP
December 07, 2012
A WOMAN whose son killed himself after allegedly being abused by a pedophile priest says powerful men in the Catholic Church should be charged for concealing the crimes of clergy.
Helen Watson has told an inquiry that Catholic leaders, including former Ballarat bishop Ronald Mulkearns, moved Father Paul David Ryan from parish to parish, as well as to America, where he “continually sexually abused innocent young males”, to save the reputation of the church.
She also voiced fears that gaps in the law meant her son’s alleged tormentor, who spent 12 months in jail on child sex offences after being charged in 2006, will never be tried for the crime because her son is dead.
“Bishop Mulkearns sent a known sex offender to Ararat where he sexually abused my son,” Mrs Watson told the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child abuse inquiry in Ballarat on Friday.
“This abuse ultimately led to his death.”
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