"I am ashamed": new Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher admits church has failed abuse victims, by Rick Feneley, Sydney Morning Herald (September 19, 2014)

"I am ashamed": new Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher admits church has failed abuse victims

The new archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, Anthony Fisher, has used his first news conference to express his shame and sorrow for child abuse by the clergy and the church's abandonment of its victims.

To the survivors of abuse and to the church's youth, Archbishop Fisher said: "To both of them I say, no excuses, no cover-ups. I am ashamed and I'm sorry for where we've failed you in the past. The church can do better and I'm determined to play my part as a leader in Sydney."

Archbishop Fisher said he hoped the Catholic church would emerge as a "purified and humbler church".

At the news conference in Parramatta, where he has led the Diocese since 2010, he said: "It's been harrowing to listen to the stories of the survivors of abuse as I have done here as Bishop of Parramatta."

On his first day in the job, Archbishop Fisher said he hoped to meet Muslim leaders on Friday afternoon to discuss the anti-terrorism raids in Sydney. He said faith leaders had to play a role in ensuring calm and harmony.

Having spent much of his childhood in Lakemba, where Muslims protested on Thursday night that they were unfairly targeted, Archbishop Fisher said: "If people there are feeling alienated at the moment, we've got to reach out to them, that they are our fellow citizens and that we
care about them.

"If the rest of Australia wants to make sure it's safe and wants to be sure there's no one out there thinking differently about that, that's fine and I fully support that, but I don't want anyone thinking they are being unreasonably targeted at the moment or in some way profiled."

The Vatican announcement comes several months after Cardinal Pell was appointed to a newly created Secretariat for the Economy, charged with cleaning up the Vatican's finances.

Cardinal Pell was widely criticised for his appearance last month at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, where he likened the Catholic Church's responsibility for child abuse to that of a "trucking company". If a driver sexually assaulted a passenger they picked up along the way, he said, "I don't think it appropriate for the leadership of that company be held responsible."

Archbishop Fisher was born in Crows Nest and attended Catholic schools at Lakemba, Lane Cove, Ryde and Riverview. He studied history and law at the University of Sydney and practised in a city law firm before entering the Dominican Order.

He was ordained a priest in 1991 and completed a doctorate in bioethics at Oxford, before teaching at the Australian Catholic University.

"Growing up in the south-west and then the north of Sydney, working as a bishop in the east and then the west, I feel a deep affinity for every part of this wonderful city and a deep concern for its people," he said.

"I'm very excited to be returning to the Archdiocese of Sydney and building on the strong foundations left by my predecessor Cardinal George Pell. Sydney is a vibrant, growing city with so much potential to be one of the greatest cities – and faith communities – of the world."

Archbishop Fisher founded the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family in Melbourne and coordinated World Youth Day in 2008.

with Richard Blackburn.