Ronald Mulkearns, Australian Roman Catholic prelate, Died at 85

  Religion

Bishop Ronald Austin Mulkearns was born on November 11, 1930, and died on April 3, 2016.

He was the bishop emeritus of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ballarat in Ballarat, Australia, a diocese in the ecclesiastical province of Melbourne.

Ronald resigned as bishop on May 30, 1997.

Ronald Mulkearns apologised during videolink testimony to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, in February 2016 for failing to halt what he called a “problem with priests”, the widespread and long-lasting sexual abuse of children in Ballarat’s Catholic schools during his term as bishop, including the notorious case of convicted child abuser Gerald Ridsdale.

He developed colorectal cancer toward the end of his life.

Ronald Mulkearns passed away at 85 yrs old.