A paedophile priest, convicted of abusing more than 70 children over three decades, has died, but advocate groups for survivors of sex abuse says it “doesn’t erase the misery” and the “immense suffering” he caused.
Gerald Ridsdale died on Tuesday morning in prison where he had been held since 1994. He was 90.
Ridsdale’s history of child abuse began in 1961 – the year he was ordained as a priest.
He spent the next three decades abusing dozens of children across regional Victoria, often using his privileged status as a priest to earn the trust of his victims and their families.
He was also accused of abusing children in New South Wales and the US, where he underwent church-connected sex offender treatment.
He was later charged with other offences stemming from Sano taskforce investigations, established by Victoria police to investigate historical and new allegations of child sexual abuse involving religious and nongovernment organisations.
Those charges and court appearances garnered him the moniker of Australia’s worst paedophile priest.
The late cardinal George Pell lived with Ridsdale for a time in the 1970s, accompanied him to court in 1993, and offered to provide character evidence for him.
The child abuse royal commission investigated what Pell knew of Ridsdale’s offending while Pell worked in the Ballarat diocese – the centre of Australia’s abuse scandal in the 1970s and 1980s.
It found that, as early as 1973, well before any police investigation, then Father Pell had “turned his mind to the prudence of Ridsdale taking boys on overnight camps”.
“The most likely reason for this, as Cardinal Pell acknowledged, was the possibility that if priests were one-on-one with a child then they could sexually abuse a child or at least provoke gossip about such a prospect,” the commission found. “By this time, child sexual abuse was on his radar, in relation to … Ridsdale.”
The commission heard that, almost a decade later, Pell was involved in a meeting of the College of Consultors about whether to move Ridsdale from the Mortlake parish in Ballarat to Sydney. The meeting included senior Catholic officials, including then bishop Ronald Mulkearns.
Pell claimed he was deceived at the meeting about the true reasons for moving Ridsdale, something rejected by the royal commission.
“It is implausible given the matters set out above that Bishop Mulkearns did not inform those at the meeting of at least complaints of sexual abuse of children having been made,” the royal commission found.
Leonie Sheedy is a co-founder of the Care Leavers Australia Network, which supports abuse victims from foster care, orphanages and other state-run institutions.
She said Ridsdale’s death “doesn’t erase the misery he caused”.
“There are many Catholic enablers who should hang their heads in shame for ignoring the children’s cries,” she told the Guardian.
Other survivor advocates had a similar reaction.
Alison Geale, chief executive of child protection group Bravehearts, said:
“Gerald Ridsdale’s death does not erase the immense suffering he inflicted on innocent children and their families. While some may see his passing as the end of a dark chapter, for survivors, the trauma and its impacts remain.”
Beyond Abuse chief executive Steve Fisher told the Guardian few people would shed a tear for Ridsdale.
“When vicious career paedophiles die, survivors and friends are only sad about one thing – that they did not get to see him suffer more as he made his victims suffer for the rest of their lives,” he said.
At Ridsdale’s 1994 plea hearing, witnesses told how he was moved from one parish to another when claims of abuse were raised.
The 2017 royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse found those claims were true, and confirmed that those high up in the church had made decisions to shift Ridsdale to other parishes after allegations of child abuse to avoid scandal.
It found that the Diocese of Ballarat had known of Ridsdale’s offending since the 1960s – and there was no question that by 1982 Mulkearns knew of Ridsdale’s offending.
He admitted to another eight sexual assault charges against children as recently as August last year.
Ridsdale, who was born in Ballarat, appeared frail during his last court appearance and had been excused from attending his most recent mentions.
During the last hearing he attended, the court was told Ridsdale was in chronic pain and was likely to go into palliative care.
He was not asked to speak during the hearing except for his plea, to which he replied “I’m guilty”.
He had been too unwell to attend previous hearings for offences in the regional Victorian towns of Inglewood, Ballarat, Apollo Bay, Horsham and Mortlake, between 1973 and 1981.
Ridsdale was serving a maximum of 40 years in prison after previously pleading guilty to sexually abusing at least 72 children during the 1970s and 1980s while working as a Catholic priest at multiple schools and churches across Victoria.
He had a fall in November 2022 and was bedridden, suffering chronic pain, muscle wasting and weak limbs.
In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or Bravehearts on 1800 272 831, and adult survivors can contact Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International
