{"id":10296,"date":"2022-05-04T16:28:07","date_gmt":"2022-05-04T06:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kelsolawyers.com\/au\/?post_type=institutions&p=10296"},"modified":"2025-05-08T13:35:37","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T03:35:37","slug":"catholic-abuse-in-victoria","status":"publish","type":"institutions","link":"https:\/\/kelsolawyers.com\/au\/institutions\/catholic-abuse-in-victoria\/","title":{"rendered":"Offending Institution: Catholic Abuse in Victoria"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Catholic Church<\/a> has a shameful history of child sexual abuse in Melbourne<\/a> and the rest of Victoria<\/a> \u2014 but for decades, the clergy\u2019s behaviour was shameless. High-ranking members of the Roman Catholic clergy<\/a> went to great lengths to cover up the crimes of paedophile priests like <\/span>Father Gerald Ridsdale<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Father Peter Searson <\/span><\/a>and <\/span>Monsignor John Day<\/span><\/a> throughout the 1960s, 70s, 80s and 90s.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These men were allowed to work in schools<\/a> and serve in parishes throughout Victoria. Many were moved from site to site, and allowed access to children. The amount of damage and trauma these men caused is despicable. For many Victorian children, now adults, life will never be the same.<\/span><\/p>\n

In this article, we expose the horrendous numbers surrounding Catholic abuse in Melbourne and Victoria, along with the names of the serial paedophiles that inflicted so much pain.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Church abuse in the Archdiocese of Melbourne<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse received <\/span>454 claims of child sexual abuse within the Archdiocese of Melbourne<\/span><\/a>. The data showed that 72% of the victims were male and 28% were female, and 71% of all victims were under the age of 13-years-old when the abuse occurred.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It was reported that 88% of claims are alleged to have occurred between 1950 and 1989, but the highest number of incidents occurred in the 1970s with <\/span>142 claims (or 34% of all claims<\/span><\/a>). 94% of these claims involved a priest.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"incident<\/p>\n

Image: <\/span>Child Abuse Royal Commission<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

The data identified 203 institutions where a priest was involved and 51 institutions which had two or more claims against a priest. Children were abused in parishes, orphanages and even schools like Rupertswood College, where offenders like <\/span>Father Julian Benedict Fox<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Father Frank Klep<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Brother David Rapson<\/span><\/a> walked the halls.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Other offenders include:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n