An Australian bishop has made a decision to allot his predecessor’s estate to assistance for victims of clerical abuse.
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Ronald Mulkearns left almost all of his estate, including a Fairhaven property valued at more than $2 million, to the Catholic diocese of Ballarat after his death his April.
Ronald Mulkearns died in April.
Mulkearns, who died in April, was blamed for allowing paedophile priests to continue to operate in Victoria.
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His office could not confirm the estate’s value or precisely how the estate would be used.
Ronald Mulkearns is accused of knowing about paedophile priest Gerald Francis Ridsdale as well as others sexually abusing children in the diocese from parish to parish.
Clergy abuse survivor Andrew Collins told The Age on Tuesday the diocese had been supportive and reimbursed some medical and counselling costs to survivors. “‘That should be the only course of action”, he told the Herald Sun.
National support group for abuse victims, Care Leavers Australia Network, hoped the money would be shared nationally, as numerous Ballarat victims no longer live in the area.
“It’s really evidence that the Royal Commission hearings have shone a light on the harm caused by child sexual abuse by institutions like the Catholic Church”. The commission also heard that he destroyed documents in Ridsdale’s file.
“I think that as Mulkearns essentially facilitated the abuse of victims by moving perpetrators around”, he said.
Bishop Mulkearns told the commission earlier this year he was sorry and regretted he did not deal with paedophile priests properly, saying he was trying to protect the church’s reputation and stop further offending.
“How many other pedophiles have died and their assets have gone to the parish church?” she said.
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Bishop Mulkearns’ estate is said to contain real estate and cash.
