Fisher welcomes critical report on sex abuse in his diocese

Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney has welcomed a royal commission report critical of his archdiocese, Australia’s oldest.

The archbishop, who succeeded Cardinal George Pell last November, said the Catholic Church had been and would continue to be fully transparent and cooperate fully with the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The commission released reports of three case studies last week. Two involved the national Towards Healing protocol, and one the response of Queensland’s  Toowoomba Diocese, then headed by Bishop William Morris, to the conduct of teacher Gerard Vincent Byrnes, who in 2010 was jailed after pleading guilty to 44 offences against 13 girls aged between eight and 10 at the time of the offences.

“The Church can do better and I continue my commitment to giving a lead,” Archbishop Fisher said.