Growing calls for Catholic Church to defrock sex offender bishop Christopher Saunders.

There is a particular betrayal that cuts deeper than others—a betrayal not by a stranger, but by a shepherd who was meant to protect the flock. For the Aboriginal communities of Western Australia's Kimberley region, that betrayal has a name: Christopher Saunders, the former Bishop of Broome, who was sentenced this year to six and a half years in prison for sexually assaulting young men. Now, as he serves his sentence, a growing chorus of voices is asking why he remains, technically, a bishop.

Saunders, 76, was found guilty of one count of sexual penetration and twelve counts of indecent assault. The charges related to incidents involving young Aboriginal men during his decades-long tenure in the remote diocese, where he flew a small plane between mission communities to officiate baptisms, weddings, and funerals .

His former secretary, Cherrille Quilty, who testified at his trial, described the years she worked for him as the worst of her professional career. "It's behaviour that predators display, and when it was revealed what was actually happening in the Kimberley, and why a bishop wanted to have young men around all the time, as a mother and a grandmother, I became very suspicious," she said. "The church has a massive job of damage control now, and I blame them. They did nothing" .

That accusation—that the church did nothing—is at the heart of the calls for Saunders to be defrocked. Documents obtained by the ABC reveal that the Catholic Church knew about abuse allegations for years before Saunders voluntarily stood aside. In 2018, multiple written reports were made to WA Police and Catholic safeguarding agencies. A year later, when the allegations became public, the church still did not restrict his movements or his access to children and young people. He remained living in a church house in Broome, openly flouting a directive to leave the diocese while investigations were underway .

Whistleblowers pleaded with increasing urgency for him to be removed. "From the time that the Catholic authorities were made aware of multiple, plausible allegations … Saunders has retained ready access to the potential victims while investigations continue," one priest wrote to the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference .

Saunders was still a bishop at the time of his conviction, with no action taken by the church to defrock him. Anne Barrett Doyle, a campaigner who monitors abuse cases, said: "The church has once again failed the victims because for them, the great crime seems to be causing scandal, not raping vulnerable people. How many more chances are they going to get?" .

Bishop of Broome Tim Norton has apologised to the victims. "We are sorry for the shame they have endured. We are sorry it has taken so long for their voices to be heard and for their pain to be acknowledged" . But for those who watched the church hesitate while Saunders remained in place, the apology does not answer the question that still hangs in the air: why does he still wear the title of bishop?

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Sources: Australian Broadcasting Corporation