Victims told: you're destroying the church

A bishop told abuse victims they were trying to destroy the Catholic Church and in 40 years they would all be dead while the church would endure, the royal commission has heard.

Victim Andrew Collins told the commission Ballarat Bishop Paul Bird told him in 2013 that if the church had to pay an amount they were discussing to every survivor it would go bankrupt.

"Bishop Bird told us that we were intent on destroying his church," Mr Collins told the commission's Ballarat hearing.

"He said `Andrew, you need to understand something: the church has endured for thousands of years and in another 40 years or so you people will all be dead and this will be forgotten about and the church will endure for thousands of years more."

Mr Collins and fellow Ballarat abuse survivor Peter Blenkiron had met with Bishop Bird to talk about financial compensation for victims.

They asked the bishop to pay for the difference - $252 a week - between the disability support pension and the pension paid to returned servicemen.