Wagga bishop hopes royal commission will rebuild trust

The Bishop of Wagga Wagga is moving to reassure Catholics and non-Catholics the church is making a genuine response to the national inquiry into institutionalised child sexual abuse, reports the ABC.

Bishop Gerard Hanna attended the recent Australian Catholic Bishops Conference which discussed the Royal Commission. Terms of reference are yet to be released, but the Bishop says the church will co-operate fully.

Bishop Hanna says the inquiry has probably been needed for a long time. "There was this general feeling that this is good, it has to happen," he said.

"And it will be an opportunity for people who have suffered and been victimised that have never come forward, now they may feel they can come forward and get a compassionate hearing and justice and the beginning for many of them of a healing process. We have to support that."

Bishop Hanna is hoping the national inquiry will rebuild the trust of local Catholics critical of the Church's response.