The publicity surrounding the child sex abuse royal commission hearings prompted a man to make a complaint against a former Queensland priest, police allege.

The man alleges he was indecently assaulted by Paul McLachlan, the former head of the Brisbane Catholic media office, nearly 40 years ago.

McLachlan, now 82, has been charged with four counts of indecently dealing with a boy under 17, two charges of unlawful indecent assault and one count of procuring indecent practices between males.

The charges were briefly mentioned in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Monday.

McLachlan, who is already facing other charges in another court, didn't appear due to medical issues and was ordered to sign a bail undertaking at the Wynnum Magistrates Court.

The case was adjourned to December 14.

Police allege the child sex abuse royal commission was what prompted the complainant to come forward and make the allegations.

The commission sat in Brisbane for the past two weeks and heard how scores of students at Brisbane Grammar School and St Paul's were abused by counsellor Kevin John Lynch and teacher Gregory Robert Knight in the 1980s and `90s.