A mother finally received an apology at the Cornwall inquiry on Thursday for the sexual abuse of her son by a school chaplain almost 30 years ago.

Lyse Brisson, 73, wept as she testified about the abuse before the Project Truth inquiry, which is examining the way local police and institutions handled scores of child sexual abuse allegations over decades involving prominent people in the eastern Ontario city.

Following Brisson's testimony, a lawyer for the Catholic Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall said publicly that the head of the diocese, Bishop Paul-André Durocher, was sorry for the abuse.

"He apologizes for the pain at the hands of a priest in whom you put so much trust," said Ottawa lawyer David Sherriff-Scott.

Brisson said she is a devout Catholic, and the priest, Rev. Gilles Deslauriers, had been a close family friend before she learned he had abused her son Benoit over three years in the late 1970s.

Family went to media after church inaction

Brisson complained to the local Catholic diocese after she found out about the abuse in 1986.

In response, the church transferred the abusive priest to a parish in Hull, Que., where he was actually closer to many of his victims.

It wasn't until after Brisson turned to the media that police told the family they were investigating. Deslauriers later pleaded guilty to gross indecency involving four boys, including Benoit Brisson.

Brisson was only 16 years old when the sexual abuse began.

He did not tell his mother about it until years later, when he said it was a reason he had separated from his wife.

Lyse Brisson said the abuse caused emotional damage to her entire family and caused five of her seven children to abandon their Catholic faith.

Benoit Brisson is scheduled to testify at the inquiry next week.

With files from the Canadian Press