Business Manager of the Ballarat Catholic Diocese, Andrew Jirik (pictured) is warning parish churches will not survive without more Catholics. In a ‘searing’ editorial in the diocesan newspaper, “Our Diocesan Community”, Jirik compared the challenge facing the diocese akin to the Protestant Reformation of some 500 years back. The Ballarat Catholic Diocese needs “more Catholics Read more
Catholic Professional Standards Limited’s first child safety audit has given the Ballarat Catholic diocese a tick of approval. The auditors found the diocese met 73 per cent of new safeguarding recommendations and is working on the remaining 27 per cent. The audit focused on the diocese’s approaches to child safety and structures for complaint response Read more
There was a catastrophic failure of leadership in the Catholic Diocese of Ballarat’s handling of clergy child sex abuse, says Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse. The Commission’s report says a culture of secrecy and failures in the church’s structure led to children being abused across the diocese over a number of decades. Read more
A retired Australian bishop has told a Victorian parliamentary inquiry that his predecessor “effectively facilitated” child sexual abuse by leaving known paedophiles in ministry and this was “absolutely” unChristlike. Bishop Peter Connors said his predecessor in Ballarat diocese, Bishop Ronald Mulkearns, made “terrible errors” and showed “great naivety” in moving paedophiles Gerald Ridsdale and Paul Read more