AUSTRALIA
The Courier
By Matthew Dixon
April 4, 2016
Former Ballarat Bishop Ronald Mulkearns has died.
Bishop Mulkearns, aged 85, died on Sunday night after a long battle with cancer. Church officials confirmed his death to The Courier this morning.
He was considered the “keeper of secrets” in the Catholic Church, with many clergy sex abuse survivors believing he could have stopped much of the horrific abuse to occur throughout the region.
Bishop Mulkearns made his much-anticipated appearance at the child sexual abuse inquiry via videolink from the nursing home where he had lived February.
He told the inquiry he was “terribly sorry” he did not take the mounting sexual abuse allegations about offending clergy seriously and admitted he did not know how to handle the situation.
The hearing was adjourned after about 90 minutes due to Bishop Mulkearns’ ill health and he did not reappear.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.