Father Paddy Sykes has called on the Catholic Education Diocese of Wagga Wagga (CEDWW) to come forward with more details regarding the sudden departure of principal Rod Whelan.

The priest, who celebrated his silver jubilee at the weekend, has been the chaplain at the school for a number of years, but had been absent from the school at the time of the resignation.

He returned to Wagga after a brief holiday four weeks ago.

"It's a very difficult situation," Father Paddy told The Daily Advertiser.

"Mr Whelan's removal, particularly the secrecy around the details [for his resignation], it's as though he's died but he hasn't."

The school community descended into outcry at the end of August when Mr Whelan's resignation was made public.

This response, Father Paddy concluded, was natural considering how popular the principal had been during his five years at the school.

"People haven't been able to say goodbye or thank you," he said.

"I think the way forward is to let people share their thoughts, give them the chance to say what they want to say."

The college community were originally notified of Mr Whelan's absence on August 14, via an email from the CEDWW director of schools Mark MacLean.

Soon after, Mr MacLean issued a statement saying Mr Whelan had resigned "for personal reasons".

In light of the shock departure and following his return from holidays, Father Paddy said he had been heartened to see how Wagga's Catholic community had rallied around each other.

But, he said, more has to be done to help parents, teachers and students process the events of the past two months.

"It's a wound that's taking longer to heal because not much has been said."