Convicted but not defrocked: Aboriginal communities in Australia's Kimberley press Catholic Church on accountability

According to ABC News Australia, in a remote corner of Australia's west coast — the Kimberley region of Western Australia — Christopher Saunders, the former bishop of the Broome diocese, once regarded by local Aboriginal families as a half-century "hero," has recently been sentenced to more than six years' imprisonment for sexually assaulting two young men.

The Kimberley is one of the regions of Australia with the highest proportion of Aboriginal residents. According to ABC News Australia, the area records the nation's highest rates of suicide and self-harm, and the highest rates of family violence in Western Australia.

Saunders arrived in the Broome diocese in 1975 and served there for half a century. He presided over the baptisms, marriages and funerals of generations of local Aboriginal families, and was celebrated as a "hero" in the stories told to many of their children.

Yet, after the court's verdict was handed down, accountability within the Church has not kept pace. According to disclosures by ABC News Australia, despite the conviction, the Catholic Church has not initiated any process to defrock Saunders — he still holds his honorary title and continues to receive the retirement benefits agreed in 2021.

"In remote places forgotten by much of Australia... this kind of thing has been allowed to happen for too long," Broome's current bishop Tim Norton told ABC News Australia. He characterised the Church's abuse of power in the Kimberley as "inexcusable," while acknowledging that the pace of the Church's self-reform has been too slow.

"As a Church, I hope we are learning from this deep and difficult process," Bishop Norton said. "I can feel we are learning, but too slowly — it has to be much faster."

Aboriginal community leader Albert Wiggan has known the bishop since childhood. He likened Saunders' imprisonment to "cutting off the snake's head" and described him as an "evil predator."

"He was extremely evil... and he was very successful in disguising himself as a good person," Wiggan told ABC News Australia. He stressed that families raising children in remote Aboriginal communities had entrusted their most treasured loved ones to the Church.

Dr Hannah McGlade, an associate professor at Curtin University and an advocate for Aboriginal human rights, told ABC News Australia that the trauma of sexual assault and the history of institutional abuse in the Kimberley continue to play out.

"It is well known that, for Aboriginal men in particular, the stigma around speaking about sexual abuse is especially heavy — it is not safe to speak up," she said. "Without proper healing and intervention, victims can sometimes become perpetrators, and unfortunately that cycle is still continuing."

Wiggan believes the verdict "sets a precedent" and hopes it will give courage to others who have remained silent.

"I hope more brave people will come forward and share their stories, because that has to happen," he told ABC News Australia.

Following the trial, Bishop Norton committed the Church to hosting healing and reconciliation events in Broome open to the broader community — not limited to Church members. Whether the Church will initiate proceedings to defrock Saunders, whether further allegations of sexual abuse in the Kimberley will surface, and the course of subsequent legal proceedings all remain unclear.