Death looms daily
MORE victims of church sexual abuse will kill themselves unless Victoria’s parliamentary inquiry acts swiftly to protect the men who still contemplate suicide every day, one campaigner fears.
Up to 50 men taught in the 1960s and 70s by convicted paedophiles Brother Robert Best, Brother Edward Dowlan, Brother Stephen Farrell and Father Gerald Ridsdale at Catholic schools in Ballarat and elsewhere in Victoria have taken their own lives and many more former students suffer from the longterm impact of abuse.
Survivor Peter Blenkiron says the inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious organisations, which opens on Friday, cannot afford to take too long to recommend action and has called for a government-run, church-funded support system to help keep these men alive.
‘‘What I’m worried about is that it’ll take too long and people will die before there’s any sort of resolution,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s happening right now, blokes are thinking of suicide as we speak, they’re on the edge now.
‘‘The church says today it’s reacting to the horrendous actions of the past. The horrendous actions of today are what they need to face.’’
Mr Blenkiron is one of 32 men, the Survivors of Ballarat, who lodged a joint submission to the inquiry which is due to report back to parliament next April.
In his i ndividual submission, he is calling for a Clergy Related Injury support system, similar to the Total and Permanently Incapaci- tated pension given to war veterans.
While the government should run the scheme, Mr Blenkiron says it must be paid for by the Catholic Church in Australia, or even the Vatican, to provide financial support and counselling for the men who, decades after being abused, endure drug and alcohol problems, can’t hold down jobs or relationships, struggle to pay rent and still suffer physical and mental pain.
‘‘We just want these blokes that are virtually living in the gutter, that are struggling to pay the rent, to be at the same level of human dignity as the bloody paedophiles, the people that raped them as children,’’ he said.
‘‘ The people who shifted these (men) around have a responsibility to make sure the victims are kept to at least the same level as the perpetrators.’’
He called on Cardinal George Pell, to back the scheme.