The Church needs to carry out an evaluation of all its services to determine whether it is offering the best it can, Gozo Bishop Mario Grech says.

This also applies to the Church's homes for children, which are again in the public eye after Mgr Grech announced last week that a report confirmed that there were cases of "inadmiss-ible behaviour" involving minors at Gozo's Lourdes Home.

Speaking to The Times yesterday, Mgr Grech - who last Friday asked for forgiveness from those who were abused as children while living in the home - said that not only did the Church need to be vigilant with regard to what was happening in its homes for children but it should also look closely at all the services it is giving.

The Church was rendering a service to society in terms of the children's homes it ran and the Bishop said he expected those responsible for the country would also gave their contribution. There were times when the Dominican nuns at Lourdes Home were left to fend for themselves with no help from society.

Mgr Grech reiterated his wish that Lourdes Home will keep functioning, adding that whoever is found guilty of abusing children will be removed from the home.

The perpetrators will also be offered help. A five-strong team of experts, including two psychologists and counsellors, has been set up to "meet up with whoever feels hurt and help them through the healing process", Mgr Grech said.

Help will also be on hand by the Foundation for Social Welfare Services' psychologists and foundation head Joe Gerada said yesterday that any victims who came forward would be given priority.

Mr Gerada pointed out that nowadays the government had a method of ensuring that established standards were maintained. He expressed hope that this would translate into abuse as that at Lourdes Home becoming less likely. However, he said, one still had to be vigilant.

"We cannot put our minds at rest that these are only things of the past because they can still happen today. But now we have the structures which help to minimise these eventualities," he added.

Victims of abuse tend to come forward only after time has passed. Questioned about this, Mr Gerada said children whose livelihood depends on an institution are in a very vulnerable situation, making inspectorates all the more important.

"Although technically they do have the freedom to speak to social workers or councillors, they find it difficult to do so when they know they would be returning to a home and depending on the people who manage it. This is why children shy away from talking. They normally talk when they grow up and no longer depend on that institution."

Asked about the effect on adult victims of abuse, Mr Gerada said this was difficult to determine because not only because different individuals were affected in different ways but also because children did not suffer from the same abuse.

"However, abuse is always abuse and whether it is a little or a lot it will always have an effect. It should never happen, especially on children who are vulnerable and need to be taken care of so that they can develop normally."

The report published last Friday was compiled by a commission set up by Mgr Grech.

According to sources the number of victims was very small compared to the big number of children who were taken care of at the home. Lourdes Home has seen some 400 children since it was set up in the 1950s.

Bondiplus had aired a television programme about the Lourdes Home abuse case some two years ago where about eight victims - in their late 20s but mostly in their 30s and 40s - recounted their traumatic experience.

One man had recounted how he was force-fed and made to eat his vomit when he threw up. Another said he had his hand ironed and a woman said she had been dragged along the corridor by her hair.