Former Ballarat bishop Fr Ronald Mulkearns dead at 86

AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

April 3, 2016

Shannon Deery
Herald Sun

THE Ballarat bishop who failed to stop the abuse of hundreds of children over three decades has died.

Fr Ronald Mulkearns who was battling cancer died overnight aged 86.

It comes just two weeks after he gave secret pre-recorded evidence ahead of an upcoming criminal trial.

Under his watch, between 1971 and 1997, hundreds of children were molested by notorious paedophiles including Gerald Ridsdale and Robert Best.

At the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in February Fr Mulkearns admitted he had failed as a bishop.

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