THE final survivor to testify at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was told by the city’s Bishop Paul Bird he was trying to destroy the Ballarat diocese.
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Andrew Collins said he and fellow survivor Paul Blenkiron met Bishop Bird in early 2013 to discuss paying survivors the difference between the disability pension and the returned servicemen’s pension, which is $252 weekly.
“Bishop Bird told us that we were intent on destroying his church,” he said.
“He said ‘Andrew, you need to understand something: the Church has endured for thousands of years and, in another 40 years or so, you people will all be dead and all this will be forgotten about, and the church will endure for thousands of years more”.
However, the Diocese of Ballarat has since begun paying some medical expenses for survivors.
“As far as I am aware, they are the only diocese in Australia doing so.”
Even though Mr Collins was the last survivor to give evidence, his testimony was just as devastating as the first, Philip Nagle.
“My wife had to cut me down when I tried to hang myself in our family home,” Mr Collins said.
“She has to deal with the ups and downs of my depression.
“Some days I can’t do anything, and others I can’t even get out of bed.
“I’ve sat my children down and told them what happened to me. They were fantastic. But they still have to cope with the ups and downs as well.”
Mr Collins was raped by his grade four teacher at Forest Street Primary School.
“I remember going home and taking underwear out of my drawer, getting changed and taking the underwear that I had been wearing that had blood on it back to school and throwing it in one of the bins there.
“(He) said if I told anyone, the same thing would happen to my younger sister, who also went to school at Forest Street.”
While preparing for his confirmation, Mr Collins was again raped by the priest helping him prepare and then by another priest who had promised to show him how the church bells rang.
When Mr Collins went to St Patrick’s College, he was molested by a brother in an empty corridor.
“That year, I really started acting up. I decided that I needed to show that I was tough so that everyone knew that I wasn’t gay and that I wasn’t weak.”
After school, Mr Collins became a workaholic before having a breakdown and trying to commit suicide four times.
“During this time, all these memories were starting to come back. I knew stuff had happened but I had just buried it all.”
Then Mr Collins met fellow survivor Mr Blenkiron and other people who had been abused.
“It was like I’d found family.”
He also said Ballarat needed to be more accepting of victims.
“Ballarat is a very Catholic town and the Catholic community is very closed. The Catholic culture is very strong.
“Coming forward and talking publicly about child sexual abuse in Catholic institutions not only has repercussions at the family level, but also at the business and social level in Ballarat.
“It is these impacts that stop other victims from coming forward.”
Mr Collins also called for the immediate introduction of a clergy-related illness and redress scheme.
“... please don’t let the victims continue without support.
“For the sake of our families and those who support us, we need to be here. We need to stop the premature deaths.”
fiona.henderson@fairfaxmedia.com.au