Statement Regarding Social Media Allegations

We provide this release in response to the reactions being received in respect of a social media post accusing Bishop Timothy Harris of being disgraceful in the way he treats victims of his church and clergy.

The context of the post is that Bishop Harris proffered an apology to a victim of institutional abuse on 8 June 2021.   The apology was in writing but also read out aloud to the victim in a private meeting. 

The sincere and genuine nature of the Bishop’s apology is clear.

Several years later, in addition to the criticisms of how he deals with victims, the Bishop is accused and confronted with the following accusation of what occurred at the apology:

The accusations are false.   Bishop Harris unreservedly and genuinely apologised to the victim for the sexual abuse they suffered at the hands of a disgraced priest.

The true state of affairs is that Bishop Harris did not, and would never say to a survivor of child abuse that they were only getting an apology because they are determined and relentless in a negative or denigrating way.  If the Bishop did use the words “determined” and “relentless” to describe a survivor of abuse, he would only have done so in a positive way.

The narrative created by the social media post distorts the nature of the private meeting from a healing and cathartic one, into something which purposely places the use of such words out of context and in a way that is defamatory of Bishop Harris.

This context is at odds with the truthful nature of the meeting. The real nature of the meeting is apparent from a social media post of the victim, posted within hours of receiving the Bishop’s apology.  The victim unreservedly thanked Bishop Harris for giving the apology. See Below.

The Bishop is active in the Catholic Church in recognising victims of institutional abuse, apologising to them, seeking amends for them and placing procedures in place to ensure, to the greatest extent possible, that further instances of child abuse in the Catholic Church do not occur.  These types of accusations against Bishop Harris cut across the important work he does for abuse survivors.

This is not about silencing victims.  Bishop Harris has been strong in his stance of hearing abuse victims and survivors. His support of initiatives such as the loud fence campaign evidences this.

Bishop Harris unreservedly supports the Church being held to account for the atrocities of the past.  However, an untrue allegation that the Bishop is disgraceful in the way he treats victims of child sexual abuse cannot be left uncorrected.  This false narrative does nothing to encourage survivors of abuse to seek assistance and come forward, if they believe, untruly, that the Bishop will treat them disgracefully.