New Sydney Catholic Archbishop vows 'no cover-ups' in wake of sex abuse inquiry

ABC News
September 19, 2014

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-19/sydney-catholic-archbishop-anthony-fisher-vows-no-cover-ups/5755666

Archbishop-elect Anthony Fisher says the Catholic Church must regain trust in the wake of the sex abuse inquiry.

The newly appointed Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, the Reverend Anthony Fisher, has promised "there will be no excuses and no cover-ups" in the wake of the child sex abuse inquiry.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has heard the Catholic Church was actively involved in covering up sex offences against children over several decades.

Archbishop-elect Fisher has been the Bishop of Parramatta for the past four years, and takes over the role from Cardinal George Pell who has been appointed to a senior role at the Vatican.

He has promised that the Catholic Church will be fully accountable in the wake of the royal commission.

"I think the Catholic Church is going through a period of well-deserved public scrutiny and humiliation and certainly self examination, but I hope we'll emerge from that purified, more humble, more compassionate and be spiritually regenerated," Bishop Fisher said.

"There's still a lot that the church can do for society, and that can only happen if we regain the trust by making sure we do these things much better in the future," he said.

"I am absolutely determined, there will be no excuses, no cover-ups.

"We're going to take every victim seriously and do all we can to help the survivors and all those affected by child sexual abuse, and put in place whatever we can to make sure this doesn't happen again.

"I think the royal commission and the general discussion in the community will give us a lot of leads on how to do that."

The sex abuse inquiry was established in January 2013 following allegations of child sexual abuse in Australia by priests from the Catholic Church and a number of other religious and non-religious institutions.

Some of these allegations led to a number of convictions, trials and ongoing investigations into allegations of sex crimes committed by Catholic priests and members of other religious orders.

The alleged sexual offences took place between the 1950s and the early 2000s.

The Catholic Church faced similar allegations in the United States, Canada, Ireland and other European countries.

"People have been shocked and ashamed at what's been happening lately, and we have to be entirely and completely repentant about that and be determined to do better and then we'll be able to build on our record and help renew our social capital," Bishop Fisher said.

"We are genuinely sorry and deeply sorry for what's gone wrong and we are determined to do better."

Bishop Fisher will be the ninth Metropolitan Archbishop of Sydney.

Prior to his posting to Parramatta, he was an Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney, during which time he was co-ordinator of World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney.

He also worked extensively in the field of education and was chairman of the Catholic Education Commission of New South Wales.

A date has yet to be announced for the inauguration of Bishop Fisher as the new Archbishop of Sydney at St Mary's Cathedral.