NSW priest charged with child sex abuse

A Catholic priest has been charged over the alleged sexual assault of a young boy on the NSW mid north coast in the late 1970s.

Police say the victim, now 46, came forward in March 2014, a year after the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was established.

It's alleged the man was sexually abused by two Catholic priests and another man between 1979 and 1980.

The alleged assaults happened when the victim was aged between nine and 12.

Detectives on Thursday arrested one of the accused priests in Newcastle and charged him with three counts of indecent assault on a male.

The 76-year-old was granted conditional bail to appear in court on April 5.

The priest has agreed to stand aside from the ministry, Bishop Bill Wright from the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese said in a statement after the arrest.

But he refused to confirm when the church was made aware of the allegations.

"We are unable to comment further on this matter at this time, other than to say again that we have, and will continue to, co-operate with NSW Police in their investigations," Bishop Wright said.

"We have confidence in our criminal justice system to deal properly with this matter in due course."