The bishop, the priest, and the sins of omission

On a Winter evening in 2016, dozens of churchgoers gathered at a local primary school in the NSW Riverina to bid farewell to the town's most-senior religious figure. Gerard Hanna had been the bishop of Wagga Wagga for 14 years, a servant of God who led a diocese of 66,000 Catholics in 31 parishes. Peter Jurd, brother of sexual abuse victim Damien Jurd, with mother Claire in Tamworth, NSW. Photo: Peter Lorimer But here, in the refurbished sports stadium at Henschke Primary School, Bishop Hanna was set to step down sooner than expected, citing "continuous ill health" as the reason for his early retirement. It was about two weeks before he was due to give evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. As the tributes flowed, few in the room would have known that this church leader was harbouring a secret.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/the-bishop-the-priest-and-the-sins-of-omission-20180126-h0p51h.html