Church Roman Catholic Denomination Roman Catholicism Ordination 22 July 1956 | Nationality Australian Occupation Roman Catholic bishop Consecration 1 May 1971 | |
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Birth name Ronald Austin Mulkearns Born 11 November 1930Caulfield, Victoria, Australia ( 1930-11-11 ) Previous post Titular Bishop of Cululi Died 3 April 2016, Ballarat, Australia | ||
Ronald Austin Mulkearns (11 November 1930 – 3 April 2016) was the bishop emeritus of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ballarat in Ballarat, Australia, a diocese in the ecclesiastical province of Melbourne. He resigned as bishop on 30 May 1997.
In February 2016, Mulkearns apologised during videolink testimony to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse for failing to halt what he called a "problem with priests" – the widespread and long-lasting sexual abuse of children at Ballarat's Catholic schools during his term as bishop, including the notorious case of convicted child abuser Gerald Ridsdale.
Mulkearns developed colorectal cancer toward the end of his life and died on 3 April 2016. He left nearly all of his estate, including a Fairhaven property valued at more than AUS$2 million, to the Diocese of Ballarat. The succeeding bishop of Ballarat Paul Bird announced in September 2016 that all profits from Mulkearn's estate would be given to victims of abuse.
