Catholic clergy (including George Pell) looked the
other way while Father Ridsdale continued committing more crimes
against more children in more parishes. Background article by a Broken Rites researcher
This Broken Rites article is the most comprehensive account available
about how the Catholic Church harboured this child-abuse criminal —
Father Gerald Francis Ridsdale — for 30 years in
western Victoria while his superiors and fellow-priests remained silent
to protect the church's public image. In 1982, when Father Ridsdale had
been abusing children for 20 years, a clergy committee (of which Father George Pell was
a member) noted that Ridsdale was being transferred away from Victoria.
Thus, he was inflicted on potential victims in New South Wales.
Eventually, in 1993, Victoria Police detectives charged Ridsdale in
court. He was accompanied to court by his support person, George Pell,
who had become an assistant bishop in Melbourne. However, no bishop
accompanied the victims. Encouraged by Broken Rites, more victims later
spoke to the detectives. In his four court cases between 1993 and 2014,
Ridsdale has been jailed for a minimum of 24 years for assaulting 54 of
his victims. Broken Rites is proud of its role in exposing the church's
cover-up of this criminal priest.http://www.brokenrites.org.au/drupal/node/55