Chief executive of the Catholic Church’s Truth Justice and Healing Council, Francis Sullivan, was in Tamworth yesterday speaking to about 30 Armidale diocese priests and Bishop Michael Kennedy about where the commission’s proceedings were up to and the progress of the church’s reform agendas.

It was the council’s first trip to the region, and Mr Sullivan said at the meeting participants had been “absolutely positive” about the process, recognising the need for abuse survivors to be heard and compensated accordingly.

“There’s 100 per cent support for (the royal commission) – it’s necessary for the country and the Catholic Church ... and has revealed the bigger tragedy of just how widespread this abuse is,” Mr Sullivan said.

“There is a strong recognition that it’s essential for the church to be as transparent and open as possible. 

“There can be no excuses – we must make it clear that for the church to regain its credibility, it’s not only about saying sorry.”

Compensation for victims and structural reform within the church were just as important as an apology, he said.

The recent announcement by the government of a two-year extension of the royal commission to the end of 2017 had been welcomed, Mr Sullivan said, allowing more time for victims to come forward.

The Truth Justice and Healing Council was formed by the Catholic Church early last year after the federal government announced the establishment of a royal commission into the way institutions across Australia had responded to complaints of child sexual abuse.

The council’s role is to oversee the church’s engagement with the royal commission, as well as formulating procedures and policies for the protection of children into the future.

One of the council’s major recommendations has been for a mandatory national victims’ redress scheme operated by the government but funded by the institutions responsible for the abuse.

Mr Sullivan said the church had run its own for the past 20 years but it had come in for widespread criticism, emphasising the need for the whole compensation framework to be overhauled.

“The church has to get out of the game of investigating itself ... and an independent body to oversee (compensation claims) is the only way,” Mr Sullivan said. The former secretary-

general of the Australian Medical Association and chief 

executive of Catholic Health Australia has previously conceded this is his most challenging role to date, but his desire to help abuse victims and see his church’s reputation restored meant it was one from which he couldn’t walk away.   

“The message to this diocese is our brief to be open and transparent with the royal commission so the people who have been abused can tell their story and then get the justice they deserve,” Mr Sullivan said.

“We won’t depart from that.”