Survivors of institutional child sexual abuse and their families have spoken of their hurt after Canberra's Catholic archbishop said priests would encourage people to self-report abuse to the authorities instead of breaking the seal of confession.
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Ministers of religion must now report allegations of child abuse to the ACT Ombudsman, regardless of whether the accusation came through the confessional.
But Catholic Archbishop Christopher Prowse's declaration last week that priest would not comply with the laws, and that the clause was "obsolete" due to separate laws requiring all adults to report child sex abuse to police has caused anger and hurt among some survivors.
Anti-child abuse campaigner Damien De Marco said the church had its priorities wrong.
"It's hard to believe the church leadership is insinuating that a priest's ex-communication is a worse outcome than a little child being raped," Mr De Marco said.
"No one's current job can ever be more important than stopping a child's life being destroyed."
Another survivor said his reaction to the comments was "one of disappointment".
"Essentially the message they're sending to parishioners at the moment is people are still not protected. That's a big concern to me. I still have children in the Catholic education system and my thoughts are for them," he said.
"Maybe times have changed with general public reporting but from an internal point of view if the priest is the person in the church someone reports to they still need to be covered by mandatory reporting."
The survivor also said the remarks showed the church still saw itself as a law unto itself.
"I think given the history of what's happened in the past, not only does it show complete disrespect for those who've experienced institutional abuse, it shows an archaic mentality moving forward," he said.
"I think the church needs to have full accountability as every other member of the community does, I don't see why there is one rule for them and another for everyone else."
The mother of a different abuse survivor said the comments had caused her more anguish, and went against everything she had been taught the church stood for.
"These people are supposed to be caring, loving people, they don't even care what is happening to children. When will people wake up and stop going to mass?" she said.
"What the brothers did to my son, I'm so full of anger. It won't go away. The thing is they don't seem to get it, or be suffering or anything. I'm beginning to think the whole religion is evil."
However practising Catholics have also come out against the church's position on the confessional laws.
The Concerned Catholics of Canberra-Goulburn Archdiocese group formed in 2017 to press for changes in the running of the church.
The group's spokesman, Professor John Warhurst, said: "The law of the land must always take precedence over church law".
The church has repeatedly said it is highly unlikely abusers will disclose their activities through the confessional and even if they do, priests have no way of identifying them. However the ACT Attorney-General Gordon Ramsay has said the laws are required to "effect cultural change" and no institution has demonstrated that they should be exempt.
