AUSTRALIA
The Age
April 4, 2016
Jane Lee
Known as the “keeper of secrets”, a key bishop responsible for moving paedophile priests around Victorian parishes for decades, has died.
Ronald Mulkearns, who was the Catholic bishop of Ballarat for nearly 30 years, died on Sunday night at the age of 85 after a long battle with colon cancer.
The Catholic Diocese of Ballarat confirmed his death on Monday morning.
Bishop Mulkearns headed the Ballarat diocese between 1971 and 1997, when Catholic clergy, including teachers, abused hundreds of children.
Many clergy sex abuse survivors believe he could have stopped much of the horrific abuse that occurred in the region.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has heard the bishop moved priests, including serial child sex offender Gerald Ridsdale around the diocese despite being told they had abused children, and also destroyed documents in Ridsdale’s file.
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