The Church yesterday announced the setting up of a board tasked with directing victims of sexual abuse by clerics to therapy.

The Therapeutic Evaluation Board, made up of a psychologist, a psychiatrist and a social worker, will determine the sort of therapy needed by the victims and refer them to the people who can help.

The service will also apply to adults who were abused when they were minors, with the bill being footed by the relevant ecclesiastical authority. The news comes after the spokesman for a group of men who suffered sexual abuse in the late 1980s, at the St Joseph’s home for boys, said the victims were willing to speak to the Church on the possibility of receiving counselling.

He pointed out, however, that none had been provided in the past 10 years.

The Curia said the decision to set up the board was taken by the Episcopal Conference, made up of Archbishop Paul Cremona and Bishop Mario Grech, in agreement with the superiors of religious orders.

The service is considered part of the Church’s pastoral and spiritual role, without prejudging its position in civil cases and not renouncing its rights to defence, it added.

The board, which includes psychologist Anthony Gatt, psychiatrist Anthony Dimech and social worker Julian Xuereb, has been appointed for three years, with a possibility of being re-appointed. The board has to present an annual report to the Maltese Episcopal Conference.

It will become involved in cases decided definitively by the Ecclesiastical Tribunal, the Civil Court or the Church’s Response Team.

Following the St Joseph’s Home case, in which two priests were found guilty of abusing 11 boys, the Church had rejected the idea of offering compensaion but said it would offer therapeutic help.