Growing Calls for Catholic Church to Defrock Convicted Bishop Christopher Saunders

A Western Australian Catholic bishop, convicted of sexually assaulting young men, has been met with relief from parishioners and church accountability campaigners, but also growing calls for him to be defrocked.

Bishop Christopher Saunders, 76, was sentenced to six and a half years in jail for the abuse, which occurred during his decades-long tenure as the bishop of Broome.

A Complex and Troubling History

"I'm a battler," Saunders once told listeners on live radio. "I'm somebody who has a strong sense of justice, and I feel compelled to correct what is wrong."

Saunders was schooled in Melbourne before relocating to the remote Kimberley region as a deacon. He served as the bishop of Broome for five decades, overseeing the baptisms, marriages, and funerals of generations of families.

However, his reputation began to unravel in 2019, when rumors of drunken naked parties with young Aboriginal men surfaced. Subsequent police investigations and an internal report led to a three-week trial, resulting in Saunders being found guilty of one count of sexual penetration and 12 counts of indecent assault.

Community Reaction and Calls for Action

Safety campaigner Anne Barrett Doyle, a practising Catholic from Boston, has been monitoring the case. "It is absolutely chilling to hear what's occurred," she says.

"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?"

Community leaders say Saunders had significant influence across the vast region, where generations have a strong loyalty to the church. Karajarri man Gordon Marshall says, "He was a bishop, so he's a high-ranking officer in the Catholic Church, so everyone looked up to him."

"He definitely used his standing to force people into doing things that they really didn't want to do."

Questions Over Church Handling

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference chair Archbishop Timothy Costelloe has apologized for the pain and suffering inflicted on victims.

However, those familiar with the case say it is far from resolved. Documents reveal 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, but no steps were taken to physically remove Saunders from young people.

Why Saunders Remains a Bishop

Eight years after the first documented allegations, Christopher Saunders remains a bishop emeritus, an honorary title retained for life unless the Holy See intervenes.

Accountability advocates such as Anne Barrett Doyle say the community should be outraged. "You would think that it would be a slam dunk to laicise Saunders," she says.

"But we have tracked 168 bishops who've been accused of sexually abusing either adults or children, and only eight have been removed. I really hope that Pope Leo sees fit to remove him. Surely by now they know enough that this man is not fit to be a bishop or a priest."