St Patrick's College Ballarat has placed a black line through the name of paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale on the board of ordained collegians to acknowledge the victims of abuse.
The college, which Cardinal George Pell attended as a boy, has also placed a plaque beneath it that says: "The black line above stands both as a symbol of respect to the bravery of victims and survivors, and for the college's deep remorse."
Ridsdale's abuse spanned decades from the 1960s to the 1980s, as he was moved from parish to parish in western Victoria by the Catholic Church despite many in authority being aware of his actions. At one point he had a 14-year-old boy living with him in the presbytery. He was convicted of over 100 offences against 54 children during a number of trials from 1993 onwards.
The headmaster, John Crowley, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation he made the decision to remove Ridsdale’s name after sitting through part of the Royal Commission hearings – the official investigation into how institutions like schools, churches, sports clubs and government organisations responded to allegations and instances of child sexual abuse.
"I made the decision at the end of that first sitting in May, having sat through two weeks of excruciating evidence documenting the most appalling abuse … particularly around this particular individual," he said. "It just felt right to cover his name out of respect for the victims and survivors."
Meanwhile, the head of the Church's Truth, Justice and Healing Council, Francis Sullivan, said that while the Catholic Church has been a major contributor to institutional child abuse, the fact that it has occurred across so many other church organisations, private and voluntary bodies and extensively within government-run and sponsored services "has been an eye opener" for Australians.
"People are increasingly acknowledging that ‘it has been everywhere, not just with the Catholics’. It gives me absolutely no comfort at all to see the unexpected extent of the abuse and the damage done to so many people. But there’s a danger in taking a simplistic view of the scandal," he said.
"At this point in the Royal Commission’s progress, I think it is important to acknowledge that change has already begun and that progressive policies like zero tolerance, continuous improvement, benchmarked training and rigorous personnel screening which are now the norm, have been in place for some time."
He said in the next phase of the Royal Commission, "we will see how the Catholic Church and others instigated reforms and how these institutions continually adopt better practices. More than anything right now, we need a sensible discussion about what can work for the future." Mr Sullivan was among 12 church leaders who met in Canberra to discuss redress for survivors of institutional child sex abuse.
He said the Australian Government had still not announced anything of substance on this issue, even though the Catholic Church and other bodies had committed to a national scheme.
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