Ronald Mulkearns set to tell all at child abuse royal commission

RETIRED bishop Ronald Mulkearns has apologised to victims of sexual abuse for decades of child abuse cover ups.

RETIRED bishop Ronald Mulkearns has apologised to victims of sexual abuse for decades of child abuse cover ups.

“I’m terribly sorry that I didn’t do things differently,” Fr Mulkearns told the child abuse royal commission today.

“I didn’t really know what to do or how to do it”.

The apology came less than 10 minutes after Fr Mulkearns started testifying to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Victims of abuse have been eagerly awaiting Fr Mulkearns’s appearance at the commission in the hope he will explain decades of abuse cover ups.

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

He has admitted mishandling abuse cases and it has been alleged Mulkearns regularly shuffled priests around the diocese after allegations were levelled at them.

The Herald Sun revealed last year he discussed a “problem” with Gerald Ridsdale at a high-level meeting attended by George Pell in 1982.

Fr Mulkearns also allegedly destroyed documents relating to sexual abuse matters to help avoid the crimes ever being detected by authorities.

“I certainly wanted to protect the reputation of the church,” he said today.

“We didn’t know quite how to deal with these things ... I didn’t anyway.”

Fr Mulkearns, who has until now avoided giving evidence to any inquiry because of poor health, had flagged with the commission that his memory was poor.

In just an hour of evidence this morning he had already told the commission on more than 30 occasions that he “couldn’t recall” or “couldn’t remember”.

Fr Mulkearns is being quizzed about what he knew about paedophile priests and when he knew it.

His evidence could have far reaching implications for the Catholic Church and Cardinal George Pell who is expected to give evidence to the commission next week

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