The church could be "dramatically overhauled" to give lay people more power, increase the number of women in leadership roles and force parishes to open up their finances to the public.

Peter Johnstone, who is the convener of the Australian Catholic Coalition for Church Reform, says it is "supremely ironic" that the bishops were now refusing to release a secret report asking them to be more transparent and inclusive of the communities they serve.

The report by the Australian Bishops' Conference report is said to respond to the findings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse.

The Commission found the hierarchical nature of the church, coupled with its lack of governance, had created "a culture of deferential obedience" in which the protection of paedophile priests was left unchallenged.

In a sign of how sensitive the church is to issues of reform, it is unlikely that the bishops will publicly release the report or reveal how it will respond to the Commission's 86 recommendations until the end of the year.

Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge, who is the Conference's current president, acknowledged its proposals would have "far-reaching implications for the Church's life and mission.

"To do it justice, the bishops will now take advice, consider the report in depth, conduct discussions at a provincial level and otherwise prepare for a full discussion at their November plenary," he said.

The report followed a 15-month review of church governance, conducted by a seven-member panel led by Justice Neville Owen.

Owen is the former chair of the Truth, Justice and Healing Council.

It is understood the review recommends:

• Bishops cede more control to professional laity, taking a more collegial approach rather than simply being the chief decision maker.
• Catholic dioceses should set up pastoral councils or consultative bodies - ideally with equal numbers of men and women. Their roles would be to advise bishops and parish priests about pastoral matters.
• Church dioceses and agencies be required to meet similar governance standards to other entities. These would have clearer lines of accountability, greater oversight of risks and publicly available financial reports.

At present, religious charities are exempt from reporting to the national regulator. The church has always been guarded about its wealth - even to the point of misleading the royal commission.

However Comensoli has committed to greater financial transparency. Last month he told media "we're moving towards an annual report of some sort" - but the details were still being developed.

If the report's recommendations are adopted, the changes would represent a new paradigm for the church, its schools, hospitals and charities and could influence the Church in other parts of the world.

Source

• The Sydney Morning Hrrald
• Image: NPR

On 27 September, in the most detailed statement to date from any Church or the State, Catholic Church leaders expressed deep regret and committed to concrete actions to address the systemic failures that contributed to the abuse.

"We are deeply sorry to victims and survivors, as well as their whanau" stated Bishop Steve Lowe, President of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference, and Fr Tom Rouse, President of the Congregational Leaders Council.

"We know that words alone are not enough; we must demonstrate our apology by taking responsibility and through concrete actions."

Tight timeline

The Royal Commission's final report required responses within a tight two-month timeline.

While accepting 70 percent of the Commission's findings, the Church could not fully accept some.

Acknowledging the timeline constraints, Lowe and Rouse said that the Church would continue assessing the findings and provide a more comprehensive response in due course.

Church use of psychological assessment

One critical area highlighted in the report was the Church's reliance on psychiatric evaluations to determine whether abusers could be rehabilitated.

While the Church agreed that reliance on psychiatric advice led to some offenders being reassigned to new roles, it defended this practice as being "best practice" at the time.

The Church admitted that "with hindsight, much of the professional psychiatric advice it received was incorrect".

However, the Church notes that it continues to recognise that medical professionals' opinions remain part of the process in contemporary responses to professional misconduct or abuse.

Forgiveness over safeguarding

The report also criticised the Church's tendency to prioritise forgiveness over safeguarding and accountability.

The Church acknowledged that there was a tendency to regard abusive behaviour as a "moral failure" rather than recognising its psycho-sexual nature.

Statistics differ

In its report, the Royal Commission stated that a higher proportion of survivors were in faith settings than in State care.

The religious leaders disputed some statistical claims, particularly the 'higher proportion' claim.

"Our own research presents a different perspective" the Church stated, underlining a discrepancy in the interpretation of data.

It said further work would need to be done to make an adequate comparative analysis.

Inadequate training

The Church acknowledged its historical failures in training those responsible for the care of children and vulnerable adults.

It admitted that inadequate training and a lack of understanding contributed to the harmful environment in the past.

However, by the 1990s, the Church began actively encouraging disclosures of abuse and, more recently, mandatory police vetting and safeguarding training have been implemented for all those involved with children and vulnerable adults.

Power imbalance

In response to the Commission's finding that there is a power imbalance between religious, clergy and parishioners, the Church acknowledged this.

It noted an imbalance is inherent in the relationship between clergy and parishioners, particularly during the period examined by the Inquiry.

Slow to change

In response to the Royal Commission's criticism that the Church was slow to implement changes to prevent abuse, Lowe and Rouse pointed out that some Catholic entities were "developing responses and implementing changes on par with or even ahead of state-based institutions".

They reiterated their commitment to addressing past failures and improving current practices to ensure accountability and healing.

Lowe and Rouse echoed recent comments from Palmerston North Bishop John Adams that the Church had made changes.

They reinforced the Church's pledge to be part of a broader, community-wide effort to use the report's findings as a catalyst for change.

Source

• Supplied NZCBC

"I stood there in the Church and didn't know what to do. I was listening to this lament in a very public place. I wanted to leave, but then I thought I would be seen to be a perpetrator or outed as a victim. So, I sat down and spent the rest of the Mass angry…," said one man, who wrote to me.

The man says he felt used, adding, "I am so sick of apologies; they are just another form of victimisation."

This is the first of a series of stories I received following my initial piece in CathNews.

A nurse also wrote, recalling that at the end of the Mass, she and the other reader sat with the reader asked to lead the lament—without any preparation—and processed what it all meant.

"A truly professional organisation would have offered support to anyone in the congregation impacted by abuse because you never know who is sitting there and what they are experiencing, but there was nothing."

Another person wrote: "The Sunday Mass is no longer a safe place when I am made guilty of the sins of paedophiles, and church leaders who have not led."

A younger person recounted the experience of being "personally blamed for the crimes that others did in my country" during her grandparent's generation.

"To me, the lament does the same, and I know that others also were upset; I just wonder how those who were abused felt?"

Communications blunder

"They did old-form communications, focusing mainly on content rather than modern messaging that also considers the impact," wrote a communications professional.

Nowadays, there is also more than one channel to deliver a suitable message.

Given that most Catholics no longer regularly attend Sunday Mass, using the Mass as a key communications channel is designed for the village; it is pre-digital and shows that if the bishops receive communication advice, the advisors must up their game.

The response I received to my original piece from clergy has been supportive.

Several wrote expressing their distaste for what they had to do and how they had to do it. Some expressed surprise that no network of support was offered.

Having received the material before Sunday Mass, one priest offered pastoral feedback to his bishop on the content and strategy, but the priest says his advice was not taken.

Other priests also wrote saying they modified the lament or ignored it all together.

Sunday Mass

Sunday Mass is a space where the divine and the human meet, a place beyond the pragmatic.

Understanding the nature of liturgical rites and how they function theologically is the work of liturgical theologians, not a dive into the esoteric.

Using a biblical lament during a Sunday Mass is never appropriate.

Biblical laments are placed within penitential services as part of the healing process.

Accordingly, penitential laments change in their structure, language and purpose according to who is lamenting and what is being lamented:

• I lament that I have done this,
• I lament that others have done this to me,
• We lament that we as a people and nation have done this.

Laments should not be used as a cheap ‘apologetic hocus-pocus'.

It also appears that the bishops' liturgical advisors and theologians must up their game.

Representative or actual guilt and accountability

In making these comments, distinguishing between representative guilt, actual guilt and accountability must be more carefully considered.

How do the current group of bishops, congregational leaders and school leaders/Boards carry the representative guilt and accountability for their predecessors' lapses in moral judgment when they do not carry the actual guilt or personal accountability?

Is it reasonable to project representative guilt or accountability onto the general population with little knowledge of what went on, who have had no part in decision-making and those without agency?

The reality of abuse will be the defining historical term of this period of the Church.

Institutional abuse must be addressed on many levels because it is primarily a human reality; and it is through addressing human needs, decision-making and the human experience of being abused that the institution can find a new way of operating.

An approach to moving forward

In order for everyone to move forward with their lives I'd like to suggest three conversations may be appropriate:

• ask survivors what an authentic act of penance or repentance would look like;
• ask survivors and parishioners what a genuine act of restitution for survivors might look like;
• ask survivors, parishioners, and perpetrators what a healing form of public reconciliation might look like.

In these conversations, a synodal approach to the reality of abuse might uncover and communicate more than an apology ever can.

Importantly, these conversations must not be forced on survivors, Sunday Mass-goers, or perpetrators; they should not be seen as conversations that solve the problem so everyone can move on.

Healing

The function of the Royal Commission was to listen, judge, and act by making recommendations. The Royal Commission helps by exposing issues but cannot heal because it is a legal instrument, not a theological one.

Similarly, political reform will only change the functions around abuse prevention, not abuse's ontology.

In contrast, the Christian Church possesses the tools to address abuse beyond legality and functional prevention, and the Church must offer more than a change in the management of abuse prevention.

The Church must forge new pathways to healing and reconciliation by applying the theological truths of faith, hope, and love through our sacramental system and the mercy of the Gospel.

The way forward for Christians is ultimately theological and liturgical because that is how we frame and understand salvation, life, death, meaning and purpose.

Similarly, a radical (from the roots) reform of the exercise of authority in the church needs to be addressed theologically if the experience and complexity of institutional abuse are to be transformative of institutional leadership.

• Dr Joe Grayland is an assistant lecturer in the Department of Liturgy at the University of Wuerzburg (Germany). He has also been a priest of the Catholic Diocese of Palmerston North (New Zealand) for more than 30 years.

In a letter that needed to be short, it is hard to know what language the bishops could have used to make their apology more comprehensive than it is.

Certainly, the apology needed to acknowledge, above all, Church leaders' own failures for inadequate handling of offenders and inadequate support for victims/survivors.

But as leaders, it also fell to them to apologise, as far as possible, for all offending within the Church.

In their own way, I think the bishops were trying to do all this, while acknowledging that "words alone can never replace what was stolen and can never fully restore that which was destroyed."

Responsibility and abuse

But when Joe claims that the bishops fail to take "full responsibility" he seems to mean "sole responsibility," because he says that, "through the apology and the lament", Sunday congregations were being "co-opted into sharing responsibility for their leaders' actions" and called to "become complicit in the leaders' sins".

Surely, the apology needed to encompass the failures of bishops, priests, religious and laity, because anything less would not have respected what victims/survivors have been telling us.

Joe's claim that using the occasion of a Sunday Mass was itself "a subtle form of abuse", and that it had "no rightful place in the Sunday liturgy" is surely unrealistic.

Real life

This was not the time for esoteric distinctions between laments, symbols of shame, public and private repentance, etc. Liturgy has to be incarnate in real life!

Real life includes: the right of victims/survivors and the Catholic people to hear the apology as directly as possible and not just via public media.

In real life, the time when most Catholics gather is at Sunday Masses. In the course of every year, special causes are occasionally featured without prejudice to the Sunday's primary meaning.

In real life, a letter that needs to be short is never going to say everything that everybody wants it to say.

And in real life, most sexual offending occurs in homes or among relatives, and most vocations to priesthood and religious life come from homes. The apology and the lament were an occasion for all of us.

I think our congregations would have been pleased to hear the bishops' apology, and appreciated the opportunity to participate in a form of communal lament, and would have recognised the need for it to be on a Sunday.

• Copy supplied
• Bishop Peter Cullinane (pictured) is Bishop Emeritus, Diocese of Palmerston North.

The inability to take full responsibility for these decisions has been a constant complaint of survivors and victims of abuse.

However, in this action, the episcopal and religious leaders commit a liturgical abuse of the Sunday Assembly by calling them to become complicit in the leaders' sins.

The majority of Mass-going Catholics—laity and clergy alike—are not complicit in the hierarchy's (bishops, congregational leaders, and functionaries) failures of moral judgment, nor have most of them perpetrated crimes of abuse against victims within the Church.

Nonetheless, they are co-opted, through the apology and lament, into sharing responsibility for their leaders' actions.

Consistently, victims and survivors of abuse have complained that their voices have not been heard and that they have been ignored or minimised.

Last Sunday, the voice of the liturgical assembly—and each believer's right to participate without coercion in the Mass—was added to the number of those who have suffered at the hands of a leadership that seems incapable of real change.

The Litany of Lament

The Litany of Lament used during the Mass was a subtle form of abuse because it demands that the Sunday Assembly participate in an act of repentance that has no rightful place in the Sunday liturgy.

Positioned either in the middle of the Liturgy of the Word (in place of the homily), it disrupts the focus on Scripture.

Placed at the end of Mass, it undermines the Assembly's commissioning for evangelisation. If deemed necessary (which is questionable), it should have been integrated into the Preparation Rites as a Penitential Rite, where corporate sin is acknowledged and forgiven.

However, placing this form of litany with its antiphonal structure and form of words in place of the Penitential Rite would be inappropriate because the Penitential Rite's structure and theology are qualitatively different from the Rite of Penance and Reconciliation, from which the Litany of Lament has been derived.

A Litany of Lament

The litany of lament used on Sunday is a biblical form of prayer used by individuals and communities when they are overwhelmed by exhaustion, confusion, numbness, or despair due to their actions.

Its purpose is to process grief in God's presence, not, as the bishops erroneously suggested, to "channel anger" or "rekindle our thirst for justice in an unjust world."

Litanies of lament function differently depending on whether they are a lament of repentance or penance.

A lament of repentance is used before a lament of penance, but both are used by individuals who have directly sinned to process their grief at their decisions and actions as they kneel at the feet of those they have sinned against.

Penitents use these types of litanies before they receive individual absolution.

These litanies are not for bystanders

Using these forms of litanies in a penitential service makes sense.

Using them in the Sunday Mass—without a clear understanding of what the litany is supposed to achieve—shows that those responsible for this do not understand the nature of forgiveness in the Eucharistic liturgy or the nature of reconciliation in the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation, where restitution and a firm commitment to change are essential.

Symbols of shame and repentance

Biblical acts of lamentation are accompanied by symbols and gestures of shame—rituals such as rending garments, sitting in ashes, or walking barefoot through the city.

These practices articulate repentance that comes through penance.

Potent symbols speak louder than apologies, which have become hollow acts of avoidance. Symbolic acts of repentance might include tearing episcopal garments and mitres or breaking episcopal staffs.

Penance might show Church leaders sitting humbly on the ground outside each cathedral in front of survivors and the wider Catholic community, publicly asking for forgiveness. They would wait in silence until survivors and the baptised community were prepared to offer forgiveness.

Such profound acts of penance, followed by visible restitution, could culminate in a public sacramental reconciliation.

Given the depth of sin and the severity of the crimes, symbolic actions must resonate with the ontological violence inflicted to address the shame honestly.

Public sin, public reconciliation

Failures in moral judgement and crimes against innocents demand rigorous theological reflection.

The Church's ancient tradition of public forgiveness for public sins offers a framework for this reflection. It recognises how sin and crime corrode not just the individual but the broader community of the Church and society.

Public sins, such as moral failings or abuse, require public acknowledgement and forgiveness because they are experienced and known publicly.

The processes of restitution, forgiveness, and reconciliation must also unfold publicly. Within the Church, this is liturgical and ultimately sacramental.

The scandal of abuse has deeply shamed the Body of Christ.

Addressing this shame requires a healing process that names it explicitly and offers it to the Father through Christ.

Without such an approach, shame and violence will continue to burden the entire community.

Healing the communion of the Church is imperative because victims and perpetrators alike are members of the Body of Christ.

• Dr Joe Grayland is currently an assistant lecturer in the Department of Liturgy, University of Wuerzburg (Germany). He is priest of the Catholic Diocese of Palmerston North (New Zealand) for nearly 30 years.

They said that some of the earlier responses and solutions were ill-advised and had devastating consequences. Along with the sins and crimes of the priests, religious and lay workers, they are left full of shame.

The bishops said they have heard how the response of Church leaders was inadequate, inappropriate and, in many cases, added to survivors' grief and trauma.

Renewing their sincere and unconditional apology to victims of abuse in the Catholic Church, the bishops acknowledged that words can never replace what was stolen or fully restore what was destroyed - and to this end they continue to reflect on the lessons of the Royal Commission.

Looking back, the bishops say they cannot change the past, but they can help shape the future.

The Sunday assembly also engaged in a Litany of Lament.

Shaping the future

"Starting from the place of shame and disgrace, but emboldened by hope, we as the faith community must continue working to ensure that history does not repeat itself" the bishops wrote.

They say they have made significant changes to their procedures and protocols, the prime among them being that the police are best placed to investigate criminal allegations.

They also pledge to work closely with survivors, stating "We honour them for their courage" and that they are "striving to create better opportunities to assist those who have been harmed". They have learned that "safeguarding is everyone's responsibility".

The bishops conclude their letter by quoting from Pope Francis - "Looking back to the past, no effort to beg pardon and to seek to repair the harm done will ever be sufficient.

"Looking ahead to the future, no effort must be spared to create a culture able to prevent such situations from happening, but also to prevent the possibility of their being covered up and perpetuated."

PM's historic appology

The NZ Bishops' statement follows on from last week's historic apology by New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, acknowledging the abuse suffered by survivors in state and faith-based care, marking a significant step toward healing for many affected.

The Prime Minister's emotional apology underlines a national commitment to accountability and reform.

Source

• NZ Catholic Bishops Conference (supplied)

"We have made changes, and we remain committed to continuing this work to ensure accountability and healing" Bishop Stephen Lowe, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference, and Rev. Tom Rouse, president of the Congregational Leaders Conference, said on Friday.

"While the [Royal Commission into Abuse in Care] report chronicles a disgraceful aspect of our nation's past, it also provides us with a roadmap - continuing the work begun before the Royal Commission and extending into our future" their statement said.

Little has changed

Survivors aren't impressed and they want Catholic congregations to help make the Church accountable by pressuring Catholic clergy to admit wrongdoing and take responsibility.

They note that despite the Church's general apologies, individuals abused by clergy have not yet received any personal apologies.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) says Lowe and Rouse disregard their own safeguarding principles and procedures.

SNAP accuses church leaders of deliberately misleading the New Zealand people.

It says survivors continue to report being re-victimised by Church leaders behind closed doors.

"One recently received a letter from a lawyer instructed by Lowe and Rouse's Professional Standards and National Safeguarding Offices threatening to "discontinue the inquiry into your complaints" if the complainant did not remain silent.

"The letter came after the complainant raised concerns about Lowe and Rouse's officials trying to shut down his complaint cases without completing the required investigative work."

Catholic congregations need to help

Steve Goodlass is a member of another survivor group, Male Survivors, and a survivor of clergy abuse at St Bernard's College.

Goodlass denounced the Catholic Church's response to a recent inquiry, calling it "heartbreaking and appalling".

He accused the Church of avoiding accountability.

The Church released a statement on Friday, which Goodlass criticised for being "full of rhetoric and deflection" and dismissing the ongoing impact on survivors.

"The apology meant nothing" he said, noting repeated references to abuse as being in the past.

"If you have a tail for this sort of stuff that's 40 years long, who would say that's in the past?" Goodlass said.

ACC system not good enough

The State, through ACC, provides compensation regardless of who is at fault, whether it's a workplace injury, road accident, or injury that occurred at home or during leisure activities.

However, Goodlass urged the Church to break with the country's law and protocol, and establish its own comprehensive redress scheme to provide better support for survivors.

Current redress payments were "pitiful" he said.

Goodlass accused the Church of not stepping up to fund counselling and support groups.

The church had "just sat there" and waited for the state's response, he said.

"It's really hard knowing that I am paying for my own therapy through my taxes, while the Church does nothing" he said.

Church funds counselling

A spokesperson for the Catholic Church says counselling was offered as standard practice when allegations of abuse were presented to the church's professional standards office.

Sources

• RNZ
• Scoop

Even the Government missed the deadline.

The Catholic Church says its response is nearing completion and will be made public by the end of the week.

"We acknowledge that the abuse of people in the care of the Church is real and the failures of Church leaders in responding to reports are real. The impacts of these are present today; for survivors, their whanau, for faith communities, and for society.

"This is not just an exercise in looking backwards. We look forward.

"We will continue to improve safeguarding in all aspects of church life. There is not, and will not be, any tolerance for abuse in the Church" said the Church on 22 August when the report was released.

RNZ reports the commissioner's most urgent recommendation called for the government and faith-based institutions to release their official responses to the inquiry's reports and conclusions within two months of the final report being presented to Parliament in July.

Gloriavale declines to respond

Other organisations, including the Presbyterian Church and Catholic Church, have yet to finalise their responses.

Meanwhile Gloriavale, the conservative Christian community on the West Coast, has refused to engage.

"Bottom line is we didn't make a response" Peter Righteous, a senior leader in the community, told RNZ.

"It's our business as to why we respond to things or why we don't.

"We are still going over the thing and thinking about all the ramifications and all that. But we decided not to respond to it and that's that."

Government - detailed response in November

Commenting on the Government's failure to respond to the time condition set by the Royal Commission, Erica Stanford, the minister overseeing the government's handling of the report, indicated that more details would be shared at a public apology scheduled for November.

"The Royal Commission's report took nearly six years to complete and, with over 500 findings, it was clear from the outset that a two-month response would not be possible" Stanford's spokesperson explained.

A Crown Response Unit spokesperson added that while some faith-based organisations had yet to finalise their responses, there were "significant expectations" that they would carefully consider the commission's recommendations and provide their own statements in due course.

Salvation Army response

The Salvation Army was one of the few to address the commission's findings directly. It acknowledged the report and pledged support for a survivor-centric redress system.

"We are committed to doing everything possible to ensure abuse and neglect never again occurs in any centre or service connected to the Salvation Army" said Commissioner Mark Campbell of Salvation Army New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa.

Anglican Church response

The Anglican Church in Aotearoa also accepted responsibility for its role in the abuse.

"We take full responsibility on behalf of the Church for these failures" say Bishops Don Tamihere, Justin Duckworth and Sione Ulu'ilakepa in the Church's joint statement.

They emphasised their commitment to transformation within the Church to prevent future harm.

Presbyterian Support Southland response

Chief executive Matt Russell said the organisation unreservedly acknowledged and apologised for the abuse and neglect to those in its care.

Survivors concerned

Survivors of abuse have expressed frustration with the delayed responses.

They argue that the Government and 11 of 14 church groups failing to meet the Royal Commission's deadline undermines accountability efforts.

The inquiry's final report, released in July, recommended that the government and religious organisations respond within two months.

Source

• RNZ
• Catholic Church

Lead Coordination Minister Erica Stanford says it's critically important Government "gets it right" and the apology is well-run, survivors are reimbursed and support services are available. Continue reading

The "Whanaketia - through pain and trauma, from darkness to light" report was made public on Wednesday afternoon after being tabled in Parliament.

The bishops and congregational leaders say they need to read its 16 volumes thoroughly and consider the contents before they can make any further comment.

They say they will ensure action follows their review of the Inquiry's findings and they are committed to improve safeguarding in all aspects of Church life.

In a letter read at all parish masses last weekend, they stated "We acknowledge that the abuse of people in the care of the Church is real and the failures of Church leaders in responding to reports are real.

"The impacts of these are present today - for survivors, their whanau, for faith communities and for society.

"At the same time, everyone must play their part in responding to the Inquiry's report to the extent that they can.

"There are things that all of us can and must do to eliminate abuse of any kind in whatever context we live and work in."

Our national disgrace

A quick summary of the report says:

• "Unimaginable" and widespread abuse in care between 1950 and 2019 amounts to a "national disgrace"
• An estimated 200,000 of 655,000 in care were abused and many more neglected, with Maori disproportionately affected and subjected to overt and targeted racism
• Violence and sexual abuse were common and, in some cases, children and young people were "trafficked" to members of the public for sex
• State and church agencies' responses to abuse reports were woefully inadequate

The Royal Commission is calling for:

• Apologies from the Government, the Pope and Archbishop of Canterbury as global heads of the churches responsible, along with other religious bodies and organisations
• An inquiry into evidence of unmarked graves at former psychiatric hospitals
• A specialist police unit dedicated to investigating and prosecuting those responsible for the abuse

Read the summary

In an opinion piece in the Waikato Times, Professor David Tombs (director of the Centre for Theology and Public Issues at Otago University) is urging churches to make better responses to spiritual and sexual abuse.

"For the nation - and especially for the state and New Zealand's churches - this report will be hard reading. The picture it presents is deeply disturbing" writes Tombs.

"But facing up to failure cannot be avoided. It clears the way to change.

"Churches can play their part by encouraging their members to consider reading the summary. This will signal the importance of immediately acknowledging the report as an issue for everyone in the churches.

"Churches can then plan to read and respond to the report much more fully before November 12.

"However we choose to respond, there needs to be an urgent desire to learn from the work that has been done and implement the changes that are needed for a better future in our state systems and churches."

Source

• Waikato Times
• NZ Herald
• NZ Catholic Bishops Conference
• AP

CLC provided legal services to many survivors who gave witness statements to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into abuse in faith-based institutions.

It also acted for clients in claims against faith-based institutions.

Most staff say they hold Kimberley (pictured) "no personal ill will".

They also admit they are "conscious" of the fact that they have not met him.

Staff concerns

Staff wrote to the CLC board and outgoing chief executive regarding Kimberley's appointment and selection process.

They were worried how some survivors might react to having a former Anglican priest lead the community law organisation.

They said some staff "hold serious concerns about how some survivors we have assisted in engaging with the royal commission will view... a former religious leader as the head, face and voice of CLC".

Another staff concern questioned the new chief executive's possible response to having 11 openly LGBTQIA+ staff.

They said they believed the board had not considered this.

"The fraught and complex relationship between religious organisations generally and LGBTQIA+ communities is well documented" they wrote.

Several staff were considering resigning. Ten already have.

Serious issue

In January, a Public Service Association (PSA) organiser wrote to the New Zealand Law Society's Canterbury-Westland Branch about CLC health and safety.

It voiced its concerns about CLC lawyers' ability to meet future practice obligations.

Canterbury-Westland Law Society president Lana Paul said she had received communications from both the PSA and CLC's board offering different perspectives of events.

She answered both letters and has not heard further from the PSA.

Reverence and respect

Kimberley says since his appointment, ten employees had left CLC. They have since been replaced.

"Some of the staff who left did so before I started so I didn't even get the chance to meet them" he says.

He accepts some churches and religious organisations are "quite strident" about their views on several issues.

For himself though, he says he makes his own mind up, believing "wherever there is love, there is God".

As a practising Anglican, he says it's "difficult sometimes" to be associated with a church that in a "global sense" is discriminatory.

"It makes me feel angry because of the hurt that is caused to the rainbow community, but also very motivated to... overcome and try to change those views.

Every human being must be treated with reverence and respect, he says.

Board response

CLC board chairperson Jenny Hughey defended Kimberley's appointment.

The process for the October 2023 appointment was "robust and professional" and the board was confident the best candidate was appointed.

CLC respects all people regardless of gender, religious beliefs and race - values and beliefs which Kimberley's match exactly, she says.

Commenting on staff leaving without meeting Kimberley, Hughey said "unfortunately, perception has clouded reality".

"If they had spoken to him or taken time to work with him, they would know his views and what kind of person he is."

Source

• Stuff

Darryl Smith suffered at the hands of the John of God Brothers in Australia and New Zealand.

He has already undergone a redress settlement process in Australia and received compensation from the Queensland government and the John of God brothers.

Smith told the Otago Daily Times (ODT) that he believes Queensland has more support for survivors than New Zealand. He has presented his recommendations for a redress scheme to the Royal Commission, outlining what the New Zealand government's response to the inquiry must include.

His recommendations call for mandatory participation by all faith-based institutions in the redress, independent management of the process, and a review of historical claims with adjustments to financial compensation where necessary.

The report noted that Smith views redress as encompassing more than just financial compensation, expressing his hope that New Zealand would follow Australia's lead.

"Queensland has more support for survivors than in New Zealand."

"The Royal Commission Act also shows survivors in Australia that the changes are there for the long haul. New Zealand also needs to commit to redress in legislation," Smith said.

In New Zealand, the ACC Sensitive Claims Unit provides support for survivors of sexual abuse and assault.

It says that in response to the growing number of survivors accessing its services, it has increased the number of providers it works with and is also changing how it works to ensure it can better meet people's needs.

The ACC reports that, in the last five years, the number of claims it has received from survivors of sexual abuse and assault has doubled.

"Greater public awareness of sexual violence and easier access to support services has contributed to this increase.

"Other influences include media coverage on sexual violence and the #MeToo movement. These and other societal trends and conversations are changing attitudes towards sexual violence" reports the ACC.

The Royal Commission's findings have shed light on the extreme nature of the abuse at Marylands School.

"We are aware of no other circumstances or institution where the sexual abuse has been so extreme or has involved such a high proportion of perpetrators over the same extended period of time as that at Marylands School," says Judge Coral Shaw, the Chair of the Royal Commission.

The report further concluded that social workers, police, the state, the brothers and the Catholic Church had failed the children, highlighting a systemic failure that resonates beyond the school itself.

On Friday CathNews reported a very strong statement by Archbishop Paul Martin, General Secretary of the New Zealand Bishops Conference

"The abuse described should never have happened.

"Nor should any abuse happen.

"I want to restate categorically that the bishops of the Catholic Church in Aotearoa New Zealand have zero tolerance for abuse.

"No form of abuse, misconduct or inappropriate behaviour is acceptable in the Church community.

"The Church must continue to confront the difficult truths of the past, including the inexcusable abuse and suffering described in the case study report," wrote Martin.

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Sources

• SMH
• ACC Sensitive Claims Newsroom
• ODT
• CathNews NZ
• CathNews NZ
• CathNews NZ

Smith is a former student at Marylands School and a survivor. The Royal Commission acknowledges his quest for justice.

He is pleased that finally the children's cries for help that were ignored by the Church, the Police, the State and the people running Marylands are now in public.

He is pleased survivors are now being believed.

"It's good that it's actually public knowledge and it's good that it's being read by people, and also that people now believe us that it actually happened to us," Smith told Heather du Plessis-Allan on Newstalk ZB.

Smith, is a prolific author who has documented his journey and concurs with the report that Marylands was "Hell on Earth".

Pressed by du Plessis-Allan on why it was Hell on Earth, Smith replied simply and clearly "Well, if you get sexually raped, I think you'd think it'd be hell."

As a young boy, just two days after he arrived at Marylands School, Smith was forced to perform sexual acts on two St John of God brothers entrusted to care for him.

Pulling out a Bible, they told Smith "This is what God means by love".

He was later raped on a marble altar.

The Australian province of the St John of God religious order sent five brothers to New Zealand to staff the Marylands School.

Most were untrained as teachers without specialist skills to educate disabled children and, within a very short time, all five had been accused of abusing the children.

As the Royal Commission reports, abuse at Marylands School was pervading.

"Of the 537 boys who attended Marylands School, more than one in five (118) reported abuse while in the school's care.

"Survivors told the Inquiry that the brothers routinely raped, masturbated and indecently assaulted the young boys in their care. They forced boys to masturbate and perform oral sex on them.

"Abuse was so normalised, some boys abused one another.

"There were times when two or more brothers sexually abused a child at the same time or made the boys perform sexual acts on each other in front of the brothers. Sometimes this happened behind closed doors. At times, it was inflicted in plain sight of others as a punishment or threat. Children were threatened and physically beaten into complying with the wishes of the brothers and lived in constant fear."

Smith says he is looking for compensation but also wants every St John of God Brother chastised and imprisoned for life in New Zealand.

Smith was also abused by the John of God brothers in Queensland.

Marylands School received referrals for children from state agencies, health professionals and parents.

The school was originally established to assist boys with learning difficulties.

But not all of those referred to the school had learning difficulties. Some of them were sent there due to being excluded from their previous local school.

The report says the state and the church failed to protect the boys because of a lack of oversight of the brothers running the school. It provides distressing accounts of abuse experienced by numerous young boys under the care of the brothers.

The report highlights their desperate need for support and recognition, and the inaction of the state, the Catholic Church and the Hospitaller Brothers of St John of God (Order of St John of God).

Coral Shaw, the Chair of the Royal Commission, said "We are aware of no other circumstances or institution where the sexual abuse has been so extreme or has involved such a high proportion of perpetrators over the same extended period of time as that at Marylands School."

Shaw said that children were not believed by social workers, police, the brothers or the Catholic Church when they reported abuse and neglect.

The report contains no recommendations, as these will be included in the Royal Commission's final report due in March 2024.

Survivors described their experience as "hell on earth".

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Sources

• NewstalkZB
• Sydney Morning Herald
• ODT
• NZ Herald
• Department of Internal Affairs
• Abuse in Care - Royal Commission - Executive summary
• Abuse in Care - Royal Commission - Interim Reports
• CathNews

Martin is responding in a media release to the Royal Commission's interim report Stolen Lives, Marked Souls.

The report into the St John of God brothers' Marylands School in Christchurch was released on Wednesday. Martin suggests it is the failure of individuals first to ensure students' safety and then again to manage the redress adequately.

Martin, a former bishop of Christchurch, is now the Archbishop of Wellington and General Secretary of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference.

"Confronting these realities is a significant and necessary step as we all continue to transform the way we manage redress and ensure the safety of everyone in a Church environment.

"The abuse described should never have happened. Nor should any abuse happen. I want to restate categorically that the bishops of the Catholic Church in Aotearoa New Zealand have zero tolerance for abuse. No form of abuse, misconduct or inappropriate behaviour is acceptable in the Church community.

"The Church must continue to confront the difficult truths of the past, including the inexcusable abuse and suffering described in the case study report," writes Martin.

According to the media release, the Catholic Church began implementing formal abuse response procedures in the 1990s.

It acknowledged that over the last 30 years they have been subject to improvement.

"Everyone working in the Church is required to adhere to them.

"We must continue to monitor and improve the practices put in place throughout the Church to prevent harm, as well as supporting survivors of abuse. We know there is more we need to do and we are committed to doing it."

In a letter to the Archdiocese of Wellington, Martin encourages all who lead or have particular roles within the Church or Church-based organisations to do everything possible to be up-to-date on safeguarding policies and practices the archdiocese now follows.

"We do not tolerate any abuse," he writes.

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• Lifeline: Call 0800 543 354 or text 4357 (HELP) (available 24/7)
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• Youth services: (06) 3555 906
• Youthline: Call 0800 376 633 or text 234
• What's Up: Call 0800 942 8787 (11am to 11pm) or webchat (11am to 10.30pm)
• Depression helpline: Call 0800 111 757 or text 4202 (available 24/7)
• Helpline: Need to talk? Call or text 1737
• If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.

Sources

• NZ Catholic Bishops Conference
• Archdiocese of Wellington (Supplied. Not yet available online)
• CathNews NZ

It is seeking the review as well as a High Court declaration saying the Jehovah's Witnesses (JW) church does not assume responsibility for the care of children, young people, or vulnerable people.

A statement from the Commission says the JW Congregation believes it is outside the scope of the Royal Commission's terms of reference.

It notes the Congregation claims there are no instances of abuse by the Jehovah Witnesses' faith within scope of the Inquiry. This is based on the evidence before the Royal Commission, together with several other declarations about the Royal Commission's process.

The Commission offered no further comment because the matter is now before the courts.

However, it has emailed JW abuse survivors, saying it is treating the judicial review request as a priority. The Commission also said it acknowledged the news may distress them and they had its support.

Survivors say

Shayne Mechen of survivor group JW for Justice says said the Congregation's legal action to be exempted from the state-wide investigation is immoral and would not work.

"They don't care about the ones that have been abused, they only care about their name," he said.

The argument was based on the JW's lack of bricks-and-mortar facilities for young people, but that did not mean there was no interaction, Meechin said.

"It's a kick in the guts [but] we knew it was coming, that's what they do all the time.

"They have not succeeded in being able to squash the commissions from including them."

Jehovah's Witness church says

Spokesperson Tom Pecipajkovski said the Jehovah's Witnesses had cooperated since 2019 with the Commission "consistently explaining ... the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses does not fall within the scope of this inquiry.

"Despite repeated requests, the Commission has failed to present valid reasons as to why it disagrees" so they had gone to the High Court, Pecipajkovski said.

Whether this means there has been no abuse that might otherwise come within the Royal Commission's scope was not disclosed.

However, the JW church in Australia can claim no such thing.

During the Australian Royal Commission of Inquiry into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, 70 victims came forward alleging abuse in Jehovah Witnesses institutions.

Survivors' network view

A survivors network spokesperson Steve Goodlass said the concern was "other churches coming in behind" the call for a judicial review.

"Churches learn from each inquiry and become more sophisticated as they go."

The network had already raised the worry the commission might be constrained in looking at bricks-and-mortar institutional abuse.

However, the courts have upheld historical abuse of children when a member of the institution abused them in their own home, Goodlass said.

Catholic church role

The Bishops and Congregational Leaders of the Catholic Church in New Zealand are not involved in the judicial review of matters relating to the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Abuse in Care, a New Zealand bishops conference statement says.

Source

• Abuse in Care
• RNZ
• NZ Catholic Bishops Conference
• Newsroom
• NZ Herald

That's what Lake Alice survivor Paul Zentveld said when he heard the Government had extended the Commission's report deadline for a second time.

The high-level inquiry was due to hand over its report by June this year. It will now report to the Governor-General by the end of March next year.

The extension is necessary as more evidence emerged in the past year, the Commission says.

"The scale of abuse is beyond what anyone had ever imagined at the start of this inquiry," inquiry chair Coral Shaw explained.

But Zentveld, who went to the United Nations Convention Against Torture about his abuse at Lake Alice, says survivors should not have been made to wait longer.

Enabling the Commission 's repeated delays was bad behaviour from the Government, he says. He describes it as a stalling tactic and denies justice to the survivors of state care and churches.

The Government needs to stop putting the survivors on hold, he says.

"Do the right thing by the all the survivors before we all die - and that is, pay for your crimes."

Another survivor of abuse in state care, survivor advocate Keith Wiffin, sees the delay differently.

He's grateful for the extension.

It means the the final report can be done in a way that will be fair and impactful for survivors. It will also consider how to ensure such abuse does not happen again, he says.

At the same time, Wiffin says survivors have waited far too long for acknowledgement, redress and an apology.

"I don't see that as the fault of the Commission, but the procrastination of the officials," he says.

He explained implementation could not be done by the Commission. "It has to be done by Government agencies, the Government and Churches."

Meanwhile, a public apology to abuse survivors has also been delayed until after the Commission's final report is delivered.

New co-chairs appointed

On Wednesday, the Crown Response Unit to the abuse in care inquiry announced two co-chairs have been appointed to a new survivor-led redress system.

Co-chair Dr Annabel Ahuriri-Driscoll said survivors had been waiting a long time for redress.

While their work would not be affected by the Commission's delay, getting redress would take time, she said.

• RNZ

The Church has appointed a senior King's Counsel (KC) to investigate allegations that arose during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care hearing last month.

The Church has agreed terms of reference with the KC who will act as an independent investigator.

Rev Wayne Matheson, executive secretary of the Church assembly, told the ODT "the hearing was the first the church had heard of the allegations".

Once the Royal Commission gives permission to access the material the investigator will start work.

Matheson said the Church and the Presbyterian Support Otago (PSO), are separate organisations and, because the church was a separate entity from the PSO, it would investigate allegations that relate only to Presbyterian church members.

Records destroyed

Allegations that records were deliberately destroyed in 2017 and 2018 surfaced during a Royal Commission hearing on 19 October.

The Commission heard that in 2017 a "senior decision-maker" at PSO undertook a review of records held about children who lived in its residential homes. They decided apart from a register of names and dates, the record would be destroyed.

Details of historical abuse suffered by children and their subsequent struggles to get redress, were outlined when PSO chief executive Ms Jo O'Neill gave evidence at the Royal Commission.

Asked if the decision to destroy the records could have been influenced by the formation of the royal commission, O'Neill, who began with PSO in 2019, said she would only be speculating. She believed the PSO would have been aware that there were plans for a commission.

O'Neill says she recalls reading mentions of a paedophile ring situation relating to a case raised in 2020.

In response to questioning by Commissioner, Paul Gibson, O'Neill said neither the Church nor the PSO have investigated what happened to children in their care.

The PSO has received six complaints relating to 1950 - 1960 and three between the late 1980s and 1991, when the facility closed at the Glendinning Presbyterian Children's Home (pictured).

The PSO also operates two other homes.

The complaints were made between 2004 and 2019.

Evidence provided to the Royal Commission by Cooper Legal alleges abuse from the age of 5 to about 14.

The ODT reports the allegation includes "being passed around a ring of paedophiles comprised of Presbyterian Church parish members, being beaten with objects and once being tied to a flagpole while naked as punishment for grieving her father's death".

In 2018, the moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand wrote to the Government asking it to extend the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care to include faith-based organisations.

In April 2022, the Royal Commission said it was extending its Anglican investigation to include the Presbyterian, Methodist and Salvation Army faiths, and that this will be known as the 'Protestant and Other Faiths Investigation'.

The Commission has investigated state-integrated but not state schools, nor charismatic Christian megachurches such as Hillsong.

The Ministry of Education's Sensitive Claims of Abuse in State Schools investigates and responds to claims of sexual abuse in state schools.

• Sources
  ODT
• ODT
• Wikipedia
• Ministry of Education
• Presbyterian Church

Julia Steenson was appointed to the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry in June 2020, following the resignation of Sir Anand Satyanand as its chair.

Steenson resigned on 17 October and left the Royal Commission yesterday.

News of her resignation was quietly shared on the government and inquiry's websites on Wednesday.

A statement posted by the Royal Commission said Steenson had quit to take up another job, and Steenson said the role of commissioner had been an honour and a privilege.

"Listening to survivors of abuse share their experiences of harm and trauma has been both difficult but privileged mahi.

"To lead and participate in engagements, most recently across diverse communities including Maori - as the most disproportionately affected cohort - has been a humbling experience." Read more

He made the comment at the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care inquiry investigating historical abuse by the St John of God Order at Marylands School in Christchurch between 1955 and 1984.

Martin said what was supposed to be a good place for people became a burden for the Church - but nothing like the burden for the victims.

"I want to apologise and I want to convey the deep sadness that I feel and I know our Catholic people do as well, because this was an institution that was supported by the community ... and was not actually doing what it should be doing. It is a cause of deep shame and sorrow".

"We don't have these institutions anymore. We do take it very seriously and do want to try to be better now and into the future" he said.

When a religious order like St John of God works in a diocese it is done with a bishop's permission. However, lines of control can become blurred.

Martin said it was at the bishop's instigation that the St John of God brothers were brought to Christchurch to care for young people. He believed he was setting up something that would meet the boys' needs.

He explained bishops cannot be closely involved in everything in their diocese. Religious orders take up some of this burden and this was understood by all parties to be the arrangement with St John.

"It was the handing over in good faith and good belief that they would do what they said they would do. As it turns out that wasn't the case."

Commission chair Coral Shaw asked Martin if it was ever right to cover up the abuse and ignore it. He replied no.

Shaw also asked him if it was always the responsibility of the bishop and every other religious person who knew about abuse to do something. He answered yes.

Brothers at Marylands who offended against children should have been removed immediately, he agreed.

"I think that was the culture of the time and it was wrong and we have the results and the fruits of that and what a terrible legacy for us to carry as a church, as a society".

He confirmed to Shaw that the Catholic Church is prepared to take responsibility for the healing and redress for survivors.

"...This is why we asked to be part of this (the Royal Commission process) and we knew that in doing that we were coming with all our history and our past, so as a bishop and one for the future, I am saying yes."

Source

• RNZ
• RNZ
• CathNews

The report — He Purapura Ora, he Mara Tipu; from Redress to Puretumu — was tabled in Parliament today and makes recommendations on how survivors of abuse in state and faith-based care should be heard and get redress for the harm suffered.

It has been welcomed by the NZ Catholic Bishops Conference (representing the country's Catholic bishops), the Congregational Leaders Conference of Aotearoa New Zealand (representing Catholic religious orders and similar entities) and Te Ropu Tautoko (the group formed to coordinate Catholic engagement with the royal commission).

Sister Margaret Anne Mills, president of the Congregational Leaders Conference, says: "I welcome this report and acknowledge the harm suffered by survivors of abuse and proposed actions to address and provide redress. We see the report as part of the vision to transform what we are doing today and into the future."

Cardinal John Dew, president of the NZCBC, says: "We have been listening closely to what survivors have been telling the royal commission. We have previously indicated our support for the establishment of an independent redress scheme. This report gives a series of recommendations we can study to help us as we walk alongside survivors of abuse."

Catherine Fyfe, Chair of Te Ropu Tautoko, says: "Te Ropu Tautoko members thank the commissioners for their work in preparing this report and look forward to helping Church leaders along the journey of reviewing and implementing the recommendations."

The Church has been working proactively while waiting for the commission's report. Te Ropu Tautoko has created a roadmap of work that needs doing across all areas of the Church to make improvements in response to reports or disclosures of abuse in the care of the Catholic Church.

"Setting it out in the Roadmap makes it clear to everyone the work that is needed and the progress being made," says Catherine Fyfe. "This provides a sense of transparency and accountability."

• Supplied