A survivor of sex abuse has slammed a bishop in Victoria's north-east for statements he says deny the past and minimise the consequences of institutional abuse.

Australian Education Union vice-president Greg Barclay, who was abused by Catholic Marist brother John Skehan as a schoolboy, accused Bishop Leslie Tomlinson of manipulating statistics from the Royal Commission to minimise the impact of abuse.

Bishop Leslie Tomlinson in 2010 at a commemoration for Mary Mackillop's canonisation. Credit:Penny Stephens

The commission released statistics in February that put the Sandhurst Diocese, which includes Bendigo, as having the second-highest proportion of priests subject to abuse allegations in Australia.

Bishop Tomlinson, who presides over the diocese, recognised the massive failure of the church to protect children, but went on to say the figures needed to be read in the "correct context".