Victims of child abuse and their supporters walked out of a public hearing at the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse after the Catholic church's legal representative quoted the Bible in his opening address.

Over the course of an estimated two weeks, the commission will hear evidence from four victims of abuse by members of the church who sought redress through the Towards Healing process, set up by the church in 1996 to respond to complaints of abuse by members of the clergy.

On Monday morning it was revealed that the Catholic church had paid more than $43m in compensation to victims in a process which it is alleged sought to mitigate public damage to the church rather than address victims' needs.

Senior counsel assisting the commission, Gail Furness, said the highest payout since the establishment of Towards Healing was $853,000. The amount, which included legal, counselling and other costs, related to a diocesan priest, at the time appointed with the archdiocese of Sydney.

Furness began her opening address by describing the process that Towards Healing was supposed to follow when a complaint of sexual abuse was received.

"It is acknowledged that people will experience this process differently depending upon, among other matters, their understanding of the process and their expectations," said Furness.

Furness prefaced the evidence expected to be given by the first witness, abuse victim Joan Issacs, who will appear on Monday afternoon.

Peter Gray, representing the church's Truth, Justice and Healing Council began his opening statement by quoting a passage from the gospel of Mark, prompting cries of shock and disgust in the hearing room.

"Many will remember, from their own childhoods, the ageless words from the gospel of Mark," said Gray.

"Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such of these that the kingdom of God belongs."

Members of Care Leavers Australia Network and survivors of abuse walked out of the room, some in tears.

Speaking to reporters outside the commission during a recess, Trish Charter said that at that point she could not listen any more and that hearing the words was "crashing us back down".

"We've tried all of our lives to be so strong. We've had deaths in our families through the cruelties suffered in those orphanages," said Charter.

"I could not sit there and be further abused by this verbal insensitivity that the Catholic church is just determined on.

"If they wanted to destroy us, get rid of us, that was the way to do it.

"From that Mr Gray, it's just something he's been told to say. That is a big factor in the complaints that are being made. How insensitive, how absolutely lacking in compassion these people are in their dealings."

Leonie Sheedy, co-founder and chief executive of Clan, a support and advocacy network for people who grew up in Australian institutional childcare, said: “The Catholic church's opening statement to the royal commission shows how they just don't get it.”

Sheedy told Guardian Australia they wanted "honesty" from this public hearing and "no more platitudes".

"Every organisation that ran an orphanage needs to publicly apologise. I'm sick of apologies to websites," she said.

Continuing his opening statement, Gray told the commission that the church came before it "acutely aware of its failures in this fundamental part of its mission", and reiterated admissions made in the council's submission to the royal commission, including that multiple coverups occurred.

"Too often in the past it is clear some church leaders gave too high a priority to protecting the reputation of the church, its priests, religious and other personnel, over the protection of children and their families, and over compassion and concern for those who suffered at the hands of church personnel," he said.

Gray defended Towards Healing, describing it as a "breakthrough" for the church and for Australia.

"In no other country had the church developed a single national protocol or process for responding to victims of child sexual abuse," he said.

However he acknowledged that "Towards Healing is not perfect”.

"It is quite plainly inconsistent in implementation, and variable in the outcomes it delivers.That is in part a reflection of the application of the process across the country by so many different, independent church bodies, as outlined earlier,” he said.

Justice Peter McClelland AM told Gray that the opening address was to outline the evidence to come, not to make conclusions, after Gray said one of the four case studies "is not really a Towards Healing case at all, but an example of someone who chose to approach the church outside Towards Healing".

The commission also heard that between January 1996 and 30 September 2013, Towards Healing received 2,215 complaints and that 1,700 people were willing to participate in the procedure. Of the complaints received, 76% alleged child sexual abuse between 1950 and 1980, and 60% detailed the incident location as a school, college or orphanage.

The largest number of complaints was against the Christian Brothers, followed by the Marist Brothers and the De La Salle brothers.

The commission will also hear from representatives of the Brisbane archdiocese and Lismore diocese of the Catholic church, and representatives of the Marist Brothers. Evidence will also be given from current and former employees of the Catholic church insurance company.