AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun
LUCIE MORRIS-MARR HERALD SUN MAY 09, 2015
FROM the outside, the red-brick St Alipius Presbytery, with its clean white metalwork and gothic features, looks pretty in that whimsical way many enjoy in historical properties.
But in just over a week, when the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse begins its public hearings in Ballarat, very far from pretty echoes of its past will be recalled.
We will learn anew that for many, perhaps hundreds, in Victoria this house is a haunting reminder of the terror, the vile and damaging abuse, inflicted on them within its walls.
It was the early 1970s. They should have been enjoying a carefree childhood. They should have been safe. Protected. And above all, cared for by the staff of the St Alipius school, church, and presbytery.
But instead, they were caught up in what turned out to be the worst paedophile ring cver recorded in Australia.
Many of them were raped, fondled and molested on a daily basis by four of the male teacher Christian Brothers.
And leading this twisted, abusive victory charge was the man their parents trusted the most: the Father of St Alipius Catholic Church, Gerald Francis Ridsdale.
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