In an interview with the Sunday Star Times, American Msgr Robert Oliver praised the media's role, echoing a tribute he paid early last year.

"It's hard for any group over time to keep up the kind of energy that's needed to do this work," he said.

"What the media has been doing was to keep that energy up . . ."

Msgr Oliver was in New Zealand at the invitation of the National Office for Professional Standards late last month.

The promoter of justice at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he spoke at a training day in Wellington run by the Church.

Msgr Oliver told the SST the Church has made many mistakes historically, especially in not listening to victims.

"We had to change very much from those days. Is it true to say we are lagging behind others? I think the unfortunate truth is just about everyone was not listening to victims and not responding."

Msgr Oliver said statistical modelling suggests the number of paedophile priests has dropped below 1 per cent now and only a "very small number" are true paedophiles.

Pope Francis has said abusive priests number 2 per cent.

Serving in Boston when a major abuse crisis was exposed in 2002, Msgr Oliver said at the time he had no idea this was happening.

"When you first hear about abuse, the reaction is ‘it's just not possible, how would an adult harm a child' and then you quickly come to realise not only does it happen, but it is frightening how often it does happen."

As a canon lawyer, then Fr Oliver served as director of Boston's Office for Investigations from 2002 to 2005 and was part of a training team for implementation of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' charter for the protection of children and young people from 2003 to 2008.

He is not interested in winning a PR battle over the Church's image, but rather in making concrete improvements and in hearing from victims' groups about these.

"You realise what this [abuse] does to people . . . how deeply harmed they are."

Sources

• Sunday Star Times
• Huffington Post
• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: National Catholic Reporter

National Office for Professional Standards director Bill Kilgallon and the Congregation for the Doctine of the Faith's promoter of justice Msgr Robert Oliver visited American Samoa in July.

Accompanied by clinical psychologist Carolyn Cavana, they were there at the invitation of Bishop Peter Brown of Samoa-Pago Pago.

The Pacific Islands bishops' conference (CEPAC) are "just at the stage where they have introduced policies and procedures", Mr Kilgallon said.

The New Zealand office was asked to help train people responsible for running the procedures in American Samoa and Bishop Brown invited other dioceses to send people.

The training had representatives from American Samoa, Samoa, Tahiti, and Fiji.

"First of all we had a day with all the priests, deacons, catechists and some of the teachers in American Samoa, about 100 people, talking about boundaries, healthy boundaries in relationships and about the new procedures," Mr Kilgallon said.

"Then we had four days with people who will actually be doing this."

Mr Kilgallon said the interaction "was a great opportunity for us to share what we have learned so far, but also to see the issues from a different perspective".

"So it was a good learning for us, because obviously in New Zealand, we have got lots of communities from the islands."

Mr Kilgallon was impressed by the people who will be working in this area in the Pacific dioceses -people with senior government experience, judges, lawyers, police, a psychologist.

He said the New Zealand church will continue to liaise with their Pacific counterparts.

"And I hope that we will be able to assist them, because obviously the populations in some of the islands are quite small, and they will need to borrow expertise from different people and share some of those resources."

Noting the cultural and legislative differences across the Pacific, Mr Kilgallon said it was good Msgr Oliver could reflect some of this back to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

Mr Kilgallon said he worked with Msgr Oliver at the recent Anglophone conference in Rome and invited him to visit New Zealand and the Pacific.

Source

• National Office for Professional Standards (NZ)
• Image: Samoa News

Maria Noonan, who will develop and deliver the programme, was introduced at a Safe Church Training Day held in Wellington on July 30.

She will work as part of the Catholic Church's National Office of Professional Standards (NOPS).

Director Bill Kilgallon said the programme will be for priests, religious, staff and volunteers.

"It is partly about prevention, but is also about awareness-raising really," Mr Kilgallon said.

"Because there would be many people who attend Church who have been abused, not in the Church, but in families and other settings," he said.

"And the Church could and should be a place of healing and welcome for them."

Mrs Noonan is a teacher by background, and also worked for many years in a L'Arche community in the United Kingdom.

Born in New Zealand and with a degree from Otago University, her last job was working with students with poor school attendance.

The training day in Wellington was attended by about 45 people, including members of diocesan sexual abuse protocol committees and representatives from religious orders.

Canon lawyers, people who help NOPS with investigation work, diocesan staff and one bishop also attended.

They heard from Mr Kilgallon and Mrs Noonan, as well as from Msgr Robert Oliver, the promoter of justice at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Msgr Oliver is responsible for dealing with abuse cases that go to Rome and has been called the Vatican's "point man" for abuse.

He gave those at the Wellington event an overview of the issue "church-wide" and the role of the CDF, as well as discussing the new Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

Mr Kilgallon said Msgr Oliver would have liked the way bishops and religious orders in New Zealand work closely together on this issue.

But the New Zealand church still faces challenges in terms of supporting victims and education and prevention, Mr Kilgallon said.

Those at the training day were told the number of victims coming forward is expected to increase in this country, mostly reporting historic abuse.

Source

• National Office for Professional Standards
• Image: MSN Ireland