The church in Australia was compromised by the failure of bishops to take "ownership" of the issue, as directed by Pope Benedict XVI during his historic World Youth Day apology in Sydney.

"I think that a lot of my colleagues would not think that the church is compromised," the bishop said.

"How could you not think that the whole purpose of the church is kind of in question when all this stuff has happened and it hasn't sort of been responded to with greater ownership by all of us."

He expressed frustration with the "black hole" of silence into which his comments to other bishops about sexual abuse seemed to fall.

He had raised the issue at the two Australian Bishops Conference meetings that have been held since World Youth Day in July last year.

But the response was silence, he said.

"There wasn't any response in the main room when I said it," he said.

The bishop said he was willing and probably would raise the issue more directly at future bishops' conferences, where he would remind other bishops that "the Pope's made it very clear we have to be proactive about this".