Speakers included Virginia Noonan, director of the Catholic Church in New Zealand's National Office of Professional Standards which handles sexual abuse complaints involving clergy.

Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse Trust chairman Phillip Chapman also spoke.

Bishop of Dunedin Michael Dooley said it was a chance for priests to receive a refresher on safeguarding protocols designed to protect children and vulnerable adults.

Priests were also briefed on a new, streamlined code of conduct which spelled out behavioural expectations "and the consequences if it's not done" which included dismissal, he said.

The code included a requirement for all allegations to be taken "seriously" and reported in line with church protocols.

The one-page document covered all volunteers and employees within the Catholic Church, he said.

Police vetting and psychological tests already required of those wanting to enter a seminary were also being extended to other parts of the church, he said.

Dooley said priests across the diocese were "feeling the crisis" facing the church, as the extent of historic sexual abuse by clergy was revealed within the Dunedin diocese, in other parts of New Zealand and internationally.

Media publicity helped encourage victims to come forward, but there was still room for priests within the diocese to upskill in "what they do practically," he said.

The gathering also reflected developments in the Vatican, where Pope Francis has just completed a month-long Synod on Youth which included discussion of the church's child abuse scandal.

Source

• odt.co.nz
• Image: odt.co.nz

Noonan, who most recently worked as the inaugural safeguarding coordinator for the Catholic Diocese of Christchurch, took up this new role in January.

NOPS sets out the strategic direction of the Catholic Church's safeguarding policy for children, young people and adults at risk.

It is also responsible for monitoring and auditing the compliance of dioceses and religious orders with these safeguarding principles and procedures.

NOPS also responds to all complaints of abuse in the Church and manages the complaints procedure.

Noonan has been involved in a wide range of organisations, including private legal practice, directorships on both local and national boards, as a consultant for the government in both statutory management and governance facilitation roles.

When her appointment was announced, Noonan said "I am clear that safeguarding is not simply an issue of compliance, but is an integral part of the life and ministry of the Church.

"As every person has been created in the image and likeness of God, we have a duty to value and safeguard all people within our Church community," she said.

Mr Phil Hamlin, Chair of the NPSC said, "we are delighted that Virginia will take up the position, building on the good work done to date by the present incumbent, Bill Kilgallon."

Hamlin also expressed his gratitude for the work carried out over the past five years by Kilgallon. "Bill has been a real asset to the Office, always with a considered, objective and compassionate approach to his work."

Source

Supplied: NZCBC

But he says priests' children have the right to know who their parents are.

He was speaking to RNZ about Coping International, a website that offers support to the children of clergy.

There are some New Zealanders among 13,500 people worldwide who have been in touch the website's founder, Vincent Doyle, since he started the website in late 2014.

"We've been contacted by a number of people in New Zealand - one family where there's more than one child to the same priest, to the same woman," Doyle said.

"But they're going to be making moves to that particular diocese in the future and they'll be contacting the bishop concerned."

The response to the website has prompted the Vatican to acknowledge the issue, and last month it began working on guidelines as to how it should respond.

Kilgallon, who is also a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, personally briefed the Pope about the issue last month.

He said the expectation would be that the [priest] should go and be a father to his child.

Kilgallon thought that secrecy surrounding the issue more often comes from family or relatives or friends - the community around you. Not the Pope, the Vatican, the bishop, especially in today's society in a country like New Zealand.

"They must, must get this right. This is the first time in history the church has really done this ... they can't just issue some guidelines... if they mess this up they will traumatise thousands of people."

Kilgallon acknowledged there might be complications, such as a priest's financial obligations to a child, or the need for DNA paternity testing, but these were purely secondary to the primary responsibility of the priest.

"We've acknowledged ... children have rights and one of those rights is to know their parents."

"The difficulty occurs when a child is born in a situation where the father is a priest who's not supposed to be in a relationship and fathering children. This can often lead to the relationship being kept secret, the identity of the father being denied to the child."

Source

• RNZ
• Image: The Christian Post

He was one of three people to speak when Pope Francis met with the commission face-to-face for the first time.

Together with Sr Hermenegild Makoro, Kilgallon gave a presentation on the projects carried out by the Commission's six working groups over the past three years.

More than 200 workshops and seminars have been held all over the world, including the Vatican, seeking to raise awareness about the sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults, and the church's duty to educate, train and protect its members.

Kilgallon said those churches that do have proper structures and suitable safeguards risk becoming complacent.

So it is vital such countries continue to review and renew their policies and practices, especially through the use of external audits.

He stated that they know what you need for a safe environment. But there are problems; these include:

Convincing countries that struggle because of a lack of information, resources and personnel to reach out for help
Getting essential information to everyone, including parents and children
Convincing those with guidelines in place that real action must accompany them.

Killgallon said the church needs to listen better to victims of abuse. It must be clear, firm and honest in proving that abuse has no place in its institutions.

Protecting children is not only central to Christ's teachings but "you can't give people their childhood back. We get only one chance," he said.

Kilgallon said the papal commission, which is expected to welcome new members at the end of the year, will "have to be persistent" because the work of safeguarding and healing "is too important to be delayed and distracted."

He and Makoro said the pope recognises the difficulties they have faced and has urged them to keep going.

"With the pope's support, things are going to happen," she said. "It's going to be difficult, but I'm sure step-by-step, little-by-little, things are going to take shape."

Source

• Crux
• CNS
• Image: s3.amaznaws

He stated this during an interview by this newspaper after being questioned on few cases where Catholic priests were reported to have molested women in the past. Continue reading

There have been 58 child-sex abuse complaints accepted.

26 have been proven and 24 are still under investigation.

The incidents of sexual abuse reported occurred between 1946 and 1990.

The proven complaints implicated 21 priests, brothers, sisters and teachers.

Of those accused, eight are still alive; four of these have never been charged.

Kilgallon said all four had retired from the church.

He said all of the alleged perpetrators were elderly and in care and do not pose a threat to the public.

Their victims had chosen not to go to police.

He said victims were often reluctant to go to the police.

"This could be because they don't feel strong enough to go through the whole process of a trial and are fearful of any publicity that might bring."

"Occasionally we've had people who have had a not very good experience with the police."

The figures record only those complaints made after 2010, the year the church started keeping a central record.

Source

• stuff.co.nz
• radionz.org.nz
• Image: i.ytimg.com

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

He says that since June the church has received five new claims of abuse from New Zealanders now living in Australia.

Four of the claims were from people who had been sexually abused by priests or teachers as children.

Other complaints have also been made by people living in New Zealand.

All the claims relate to incidents between the early 1960's and late 1980's.

Kilgallon said at least seven claims of abuse were still being investigated.

Source

• TVNZ
• Stuff.co.nz
• Image: Childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au

"While the complaints and reviews which are currently being processed are all historical, the office and this role remain crucial to investigating and resolving these cases so that the victims can receive some sense of closure and healing, and I'm delighted that Bill Kilgallon has accepted this role," said Archbishop John Dew, President of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference.

"Mr Kilgallon has had a long career in health and social care including overseeing inquiries in these areas and I have full confidence in his ability to lead this office," Archbishop Dew says.

"Mr Kilgallon will take over from John Jamieson following a short handover period. Mr Jamieson, who was the inaugural Director has certainly made an invaluable contribution to the office through the establishing of protocols and processes bringing his experience as Police Commissioner and various roles in the criminal justice and policing sector to the role," Archbishop John Dew says.

"I am grateful for the neutrality, integrity and wisdom that Mr Jamieson has brought the office and wish him all the best for his retirement after 8 years as the National Director," Archbishop Dew says.

"In a credit to his work in the early part of Mr Jamieson's time in the role, setting up transparent and effective processes, meant that he was able to move from full time to part time hours after 2 and a half years as things began to work much more efficiently," Archbishop Dew says.

"While the complaints and reviews continue to deal with historical cases of abuse, there is no time limitation on laying a complaint and I urge anyone who has experienced abuse by clergy or religious to approach the National Office for Professional Standards and tell their story - an important step in the path to healing," Archbishop Dew says.

Kilgallon says he is looking forward to taking on this important and challenging role building on the excellent work of John Jamieson. The Catholic Church in New Zealand is clearly committed to dealing with complaints of abuse - current and past - in an honest and transparent way.

Kilgallon moved to New Zealand from the UK two years ago after a long career in social work and health care. From 1978-2002 he worked as Chief Executive of St Anne's Community Services (an organisation he had founded in 1971). St Anne's works with people who are homeless, people with alcohol and drug problems, people with learning disabilities and people with mental health problems. It provides a wide range of housing and social care services across Yorkshire and the North East of England.

He served on a number of government advisory bodies on mental health, learning disabilities and social work education. From 2003-2007 he was Chief Executive of the Social Care Institute for Excellence - set up by Government to establish what works in social care and to develop policy and practice guidance. From 2007-2010 he was Chief Executive of St Gemma's Hospice in Leeds.

Bill was an elected Councillor on Leeds City Council for 13 years, and was a member of NHS management boards for 24 years including 10 years as Chair of a NHS Trust Board.

He led a number of inquiries in health and social care.

Bill was a member of a review led by Baroness Cumberlege into the protection of children and vulnerable adults in the Catholic Church in England and Wales which recommended a restructuring of the Church's work in this area. He was appointed on 2008 as the first chair of the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission responsible for setting policies and procedures in the Catholic Church in England and Wales and for monitoring compliance by the dioceses and religious congregations.

The bishops and congregational leaders established the National Office for Professional Standards (NOPS) to oversee the response to complaints of abuse. The National Director is responsible for ensuring that reviews are conducted fairly, thoroughly and independently.

In 2009, the role of the National Office for Professional Standards was amended to include oversight of all complaints from the time the complaint is made. If a review of process is later requested this will be carried out by an independent person, not the National Office for Professional Standards.

• Number of complaints currently being investigated by the office: 10
• All cases currently in progress relate to incidents that occurred prior to 1985.
• Number of reviews currently underway: 2

Source

• New Zealand Catholic Bishop's Conference
• Image: New Zealand Catholic Bishop's Conference