own Truth, Justice and Healing Council, has described the figures as evidence of a "massive failure" by the church. "As Catholics we hang our heads in shame," he says.

This crisis of moral authority has reinforced the long-term drift from organised religion in Australia.

The National Church Life Survey shows Sunday mass attendance numbers starting to dwindle amid the social revolution of the 1960s, from 53 per cent regularly attending in 1961 to 12.2 per cent in 2011. More than half regular churchgoers are now aged over 60.

"The decline is at one level, in public participation - in going to Mass on Sunday," says retired priest and prominent Catholic liberal Eric Hodgens. "The next level is the decline in the acceptance of the [church] line."

That includes touchstone moral questions such... They act like any other ruthless wealthy organisation," says Ellis. "The more money they’ve got, the more ruthless they will be with it."

Despite a seismic, five-year royal commission, the latest in a slew of such inquiries around the world, the church is still to give ground in key areas deemed crucial for reform by its army of critics.

Many of the church’s more structural problems - its top-down autocracy, male domination, obsession with secrecy - are ancient and can only be finally dealt with in Rome. But the local church does have power to reform in key areas such as financial accountability to abuse survivors, regulators and taxpayers.

There are hints of progress. In Adelaide, the church in 2016 released a brief financial report disclosing key assets. Elsewhere, where