Cath News report: The incoming Bishop of Maitland-Newcastle diocese said the sexual abuse crisis in the Church is a cause of "great sadness" and that he is prepared to do his best to meet the challenge to do things right, reports the Newcastle Herald. Fr Wright comes to Maitland-Newcastle from All Saints parish in Liverpool, Sydney, where he replaced Fr Robert Fuller, who was arrested in 2009 for attempting to procure a child over the internet for sex.''We've all been touched by it,'' Fr Bill Wright said, adding that he was "very aware of the difficulties'' in the Hunter when advised more than a week ago that he would replace Bishop Michael Malone.
Fr Wright accepts his new position knowing there are outstanding court cases involving priests, a taskforce investigating an alleged cover-up of a priest's abuse, and outstanding civil cases against the diocese by sexual abuse victims.
''I have no choice. I've got to be prepared for that,'' Father Wright said.
''It's a real challenge to get this stuff right and there might be times when I don't but I'm prepared to do my best.''
Although his selection had been rumoured for some time, Father Wright said he was surprised when Australia's Papal Nuncio Giuseppe Lazzarotto phoned to speak to him about it.
''It did surprise me, not least because I wasn't aware Bishop Malone was retiring,'' he said.
''I knew he'd made some moves in that direction but nothing seemed to have come of that.''
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