The two men are Bishop Charles Drennan, who resigned as Bishop of Palmerston North in 2019 but remains a priest and still holds the title of bishop, and Fr Larry Rustia who, after a period of suspension, returned to 'supervised' ministry.

The woman is Annie Benefield (taking the photo). The photo is on the occasion of her graduation from Good Shepherd College in Auckland where candidates train mainly for the priesthood.

NZ bishops want Drennan laicised - Vatican does not

In a statement, Stephen Lowe, president of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference, said New Zealand officials believe "Drennan's actions, reported by a number of complainants, were wholly unacceptable" and "rise to the level of seriousness that warrants his removal from the priesthood".

The Vatican appears to disagree.

Lowe said multiple bishops have repeatedly and unsuccessfully asked the Vatican to laicise Drennan.

However, Lowe did not address why the Vatican did not act.

"We will continue to make the case at every opportunity" he said.

The Vatican required Drennan's resignation in August 2019. It was accepted at the end of September and announced in early October 2019.

As part of Drennan's resignation, the Vatican required him not to present himself as a bishop using episcopal regalia and dress and also not to engage in any public ministry.

The new Bishop of Palmerston North, John Adams, is also aware of Drennan's case.

"Several women have reported that Bishop Charles has had a sexual relationship with them. Although he has not been in public ministry in our country for some years now, we are still waiting for a final determination from Rome about his future as a cleric" Adams wrote to parishioners throughout the Palmerston North diocese.

Archbishop Gábor Pintér, the Vatican's representative in New Zealand, said the Vatican has a policy of not commenting on open cases. He declined to answer questions.

Two men, two affairs

Benefield, the Whanganui woman at the centre of the story was engaged to be married during part of the 10 years she was in a relationship with one or other either of the clerics.

She confesses she had sexual relations with Drennan (who admits some of her claims) and subsequently with Filipino priest Larry Rustia (who admits her claims are mainly true).

Eventually her affair with Drennan ended and her relationship with Rustia began and petered out; Benefield was left with a shaky faith, a post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosis and a keen desire to see both men released from their priestly state.

Eventually, after seeking advice, Benefield went to the National Office for Professional Standards (Nops) - the complaints authority of the Church in New Zealand.

Nops commissioned an investigator, who trawled through messages Benefield provided, interviewed Benefield, Drennan and Rustia, and spoke to several of Benefield's family and friends.

In 2019, the investigator reported that her complaints were supported.

Larry Rustia and Annie Benefield

Rustia

While investigating Drennan, Nops also checked out Rustia.

After admitting to the affair, Rustia was suspended from the ministry in 2019 and sent to Australia for psychological therapy.

However according to Lowe, multiple psychologists reviewed his case and recommended that he return to ministry under supervision.

Around 2020, Rustia was assigned as a parish priest in Kaitaia.

"But I love my vocation and I wished to continue it. I was permitted to do so, but with a safety plan. That includes regular engagement with a psychologist, a psychiatrist, a spiritual director, an external supervisor and senior clergy. I have followed that plan for five years."

Rustia says he deeply regrets his mistake with Benefield.

Lowe said the church has not received any further complaints concerning him.

Benefield today

As part of two financial settlements from the Catholic Church, Benefield initially did not want the matters to become public.

She says however that her loyalty to the Church motivated her to share her story publicly for the first time.

She is adamant that Rustia and Drennan should no longer be priests.

"They have such power and such a gift in what they can do.

"Speaking as a Catholic, it's so special and so holy.

"The Church did the wrong thing for a long time, but it seems like they're trying to do the right thing now" she said.

Despite the pain, delays and secrecy, she said progress would prove "it wasn't the church who had done this. It was those men".

Source

• NZ Listener
• Supplied.

"But what if she sent them to him first?"

Devastating words from a teenager that made me shudder.

I used to visit schools and give presentations about consent and respectful relationships. At one school I learned a boy had shared nude images of a girl with his friends.

The young people wanted to know how to feel about the girl's culpability in this scenario. They were thinking out loud, working through the millennium-old problem of misogyny.

Did it make a difference if they'd been in a relationship at the time? Did it make a difference if she sent him the nudes without him even asking? In other words: did it make a difference if she was a slut?

I explained, of course, that the question was about consent and respect. He knew she didn't want the images passed on, and he did it anyway. His actions were the problem to focus on here, not hers.

These young people are products of our society, and our society has taught them that when we hear about the incorrect behaviour of a boy or man, we ricochet our focus and blame away from him and onto someone or something else.

A girl or woman, an outfit, alcohol and drugs, et cetera. What was she doing? What provoked him? What was she wearing?

It's not breaking news that schools and parents are still playing catch-up with the advent of the internet and smartphones being available to young people.

The gendered misconduct that has always existed in real life is also built into the digital realm, and the heads-in-the-sand or abstinence-style approach isn't working.

In the past six months alone I've seen countless stories of schoolboys targeting both peers and teachers with varying degrees of tech-assisted gendered bullying, harassment, and abuse.

In April, a young teacher deciding to leave the profession after too much gendered misconduct, culminating in 15- and 16-year-old boys harassing her and professing their adoration of Andrew Tate in class.

In May, students at Yarra Valley Grammar were caught after compiling the highly offensive spreadsheet rating the attractiveness of their female peers including terms like "wifey" versus "unrapeable".

Just weeks later, an Instagram post ranking girls from a Gold Coast school used categories such as "abduction material", "one night stand", "average" and "unrapeable".

In July former and current staff at Warrnambool College reportedly faced up to 20 violent and sexist attacks a day.

That same month a substitute teacher went public about the sexist behaviour she faces from students around the country, including Year 9 students projecting pornography on a whiteboard behind her while she took the roll.

And in August, members of a Pembroke School football team devised a ratings scheme using sexist and racist references to female students.

For every one of these cases that actually hits the news, I see the tip of an iceberg.

Gendered misconduct is grossly under-reported, when it is reported it often isn't dealt with properly, and even when it is dealt with, schools will seek to avoid negative press coverage where possible.

A new fear unlocked

Image-based abuse in particular is pernicious - and prevents victims from coming forward - because of the potential for slut-shaming. But the lack of victim involvement is why I've been thinking about deepfakes for a long time.

The deepfakes I'm talking about are created when someone's non-sexual photos and videos are meshed with explicit photos and videos of someone else or with AI. The results can range from clunky and obvious to absolutely seamless and convincingly genuine.

In January this year deepfakes of Taylor Swift went viral and were viewed more than 47 million times over a 17-hour period before the material was removed from social media.

Whereas a woman or girl complaining of image-based abuse would normally be grilled on why she took or sent nudes in the first place, now, with deepfakes, the only people we have to grill are the ones we always should have: the people who create or share this material without consent.

There's nowhere for the ricochet to go. Could we find a way forward, free of victim-blaming narratives, in dealing with this latest frontier?

I spoke to a few teachers about these trends and issues. One of them, Ellen*, has been a teacher for 18 years and is currently teaching high school students.

She recently watched a colleague leave the profession after "three separate sexual assault incidents across the state, Catholic, and independent sectors", and says the level and frequency of disrespect and objectification of women in school environments is definitely getting worse.

While she has not personally dealt with any instances of deepfakes being created or shared at her school, she is afraid of when they will hit. "I genuinely think that it is a matter of when not if.

The expression ‘new fear unlocked' was the very first reaction I had when deepfakes appeared in tech." She said it "feels like ratemyteacher on steroids" and the attitudes are either being reinforced or ignored at home.′

Deepfakes are becoming a much bigger problem as the industry that facilitates their creation becomes ever more lucrative.

A report by social media analytics firm Graphika found a 2,000 per cent increase in the number of links promoting websites that use AI to create non-consensual intimate images on Reddit and X since the beginning of 2023.

They've moved "from niche pornography discussion forums to a scaled and monetised online business".

In July eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant addressed the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs and quoted from the description of a popular open-source AI "nudifying app": "Nudify any girl with the power of AI.

Just choose a body type and get a result in a few seconds." And another: "Undress anyone instantly. Just upload a photo and the undress AI will remove the clothes within seconds. We are the best deepnude service."

Ellen described to me a state of what I would call "hypervigilance", trying to keep photos and videos of herself private, lest a spiteful or just-plain-reckless student get hold of them. Read more

• Bri Lee is the multi-award-winning and best-selling author of Eggshell Skull (2018), Beauty (2019), Who Gets to Be Smart (2021) and The Work (2024). Her journalism, essays and short stories have been published widely. She is also the creator and editor of the weekly newsletter News & Reviews.

The BBC reports he has been charged with rape and a string of historical sexual offences, some against children.

Saunders pleaded not guilty to all charges.

He was granted bail.

Saunders will appear again in the Broome Magistrates Court on 17 June 2024.

The allegations, from 2008, involve incidents in Broome and the remote towns of Kununurra and Kalumburu. The Broome diocese covers 773,000 sq km and serves a population of over 50,000.

Approximately the size of Turkey and equivalently the size of the 37th largest country in the world, the diocese has only 9 parishes, 13 Catholic schools and 1 university.

Saunders resigned as Bishop of Broome in 2021 amidst a failed police investigation and a media storm over the allegations.

The BBC reports that Saunders is well known for socialising, advocacy work and escorting young men on camping and fishing trips.

He is a long-time powerful figure within the local community. There is also a beer named after him.

Church co-operates with civil authorities

A subsequent Vatican investigation into the allegations against Saunders was initiated in 2022, further intensifying scrutiny.

At one point, the West Australian politicians accused the Church of refusing to hand the results of its investigation over to the Police.

However, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) responded firmly, denying these allegations.

It said that a copy of the Vatican report was already in the possession of Western Australia Police Deputy Commissioner Allan Adams.

"The Church and Western Australia Police remain in ongoing and collaborative contact in relation to this matter" ....... "the Church will continue to offer full transparency and cooperation with the WA Police" says a statement from the ACBC.

The results of the Vatican investigation gave West Australian Police grounds to mount a second investigation and ultimately press charges and arrest the former Broome bishop.

The ACBC, through Archbishop Timothy Costelloe, expressed its commitment to a thorough investigation.

Costelloe emphasised the church's full cooperation with police efforts and underscored the gravity of the allegations.

"Allegations against the former Bishop of Broome, Christopher Saunders, are very serious and deeply distressing, especially for those making those allegations" said Archbishop Costelloe.

"It is right and proper, and indeed necessary that all such allegations be thoroughly investigated."

The charges against Saunders come in the wake of high-profile cases within the Australian Catholic Church, including Cardinal George Pell's conviction and subsequent acquittal of child sexual abuse charges, and former Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson's overturned conviction for covering up abuse.

Sources

• BBC
• Catholic Weekly
• CathNews (Published September 25, 2023)
• RNS

Dew made the comment, Friday, in answer to questions from counsel Sally McKechnie, at the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care.

"The Pope is the only one that can remove a bishop from office.

"They have all the information from the investigation. I really don't know why he is still a bishop," said Dew.

Drennan tendered his resignation as the Bishop of Palmerston North following an investigation into a complaint by a young woman, of unacceptable behaviour of a sexual nature. The behaviour was not with a minor, nor criminal.

Pope Francis, October 4, announced he had accepted Drennan's resignation as Bishop of Palmerston North, however for now he still keeps the title of bishop, and remains a cleric.

Dew told the Royal Commission that Drennan must however follow strict conditions imposed on him.

Drennan is required to

• move out of the diocese of Palmerston North
• find accommodation outside the diocese
• not participate in any public ministry whatsoever
• not wear any episcopal attire e.g. a bishop's ring
• not to participate in any celebration or function as a bishop.
• ordinarily remain in New Zealand, but if he wants to leave the country he has to tell the Apostolic Nuncio, the Vatican's diplomatic representative in New Zealand.

Asked if Drennan could not be a bishop but be ‘demoted' to being a priest, Dew said there were cases overseas where this had happened, but he doubts it could be done in such a small country.

"If (Drennan) was (demoted to being a priest), I think they would have to be very careful where they put him and have clear safeguarding procedures put in place."

Dew said no-one asked for Drennan's laicisation and it was a grey area.

"I sent in my votum​ about the complaint and it was up to Rome to decide what his future might be."

Sources

• Stuff

Archbishop Luigi Ventura (75) had produced a doctor's note saying it was too dangerous for him to travel from Rome to the trial in Paris during the coronavirus epidemic.

Lawyers for the accusers of the retired papal envoy asked for the trial be postponed because he wasn't present.

The court ruled against a postponement.

A detailed testimony from multiple men stated Ventura groped their buttocks in public settings.

The accusers included a former seminarian, Mahe Thouvenel, who said Ventura grabbed him repeatedly when they celebrated Mass in December 2018.

"These are facts that happened to me, that hurt me, and I suffered a lot," he said.

Asked in court what he would have said to Ventura had the former papal envoy attended the trial, Thouvenel replied: "Monseigneur, why did you do that?"

Represented by his defense team, Ventura was tried on five counts of alleged sexual assault.

Three of his alleged victims were in court.

Ventura has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. Sexual assault is punishable by up to five years imprisonment and fines in France.

His lawyer, Solange Doumic, told the court the case had been blown out of proportion.

It has become "the trial of the Vatican, of hidden homosexuality at the Vatican," she argued.

The accusations are "minor," she said.

While agreeing Ventura touched hips or backs, his intentions were never sexual, Doumic said.

As none of his gestures lasted more than a few seconds, he might not have realized they could be regarded as inappropriate, she explained.

She also said Ventura had experienced behavioral problems since he was operated on for a brain tumor in 2016.

The Vatican lifted Ventura's diplomatic immunity, allowing for his trial.

However, the prosecutor, Alexis Bouroz, produced a Vatican letter at the trial on Tuesday. It said Rome still reserves the right not to apply any eventual punishment for Ventura, if he is convicted.

"The only question I ask myself is why does he deny the facts?" Bouroz said. "This question will remain unanswered."

He asked for a 10-month suspended jail term.

Lawyers for the alleged victims were not pleased at the suggestion the Vatican could spare Ventura punishment, if he is convicted.

"The Holy See doesn't give a hoot for your deliberations," Thouvenel's lawyer told the three judges.

Thouvenel said his seminary expelled him after he filed a police complaint.

Another accuser, Mathieu De La Souchere, said Ventura touched his buttocks repeatedly during a public reception.

The judge said during prior questioning, Ventura he had a "Latin" temperament: there was nothing sexual about his gestures.

"Mr. Ventura is lying," De La Souchere told the court.

"There is talk of a hand on a buttock," he said. "It was more than that."

The Vatican recalled Ventura last year and he later retired. It has recalled other diplomats when they get into trouble during overseas postings.

The court is expected to deliver its verdict on 16 December.

Source

• US News
• Image: La Croix

As allegations of serial sexual misconduct against Haas continue to mount, GIA Publication want to know how his predatory behavior avoided scrutiny and accountability.

GIA Publications, which distributed the Gather hymnals that included some of Haas' best known works, says "a third-party assessment will create a strong survivor-centered structure to report incidents of alleged harassment or abuse.

"In addition to the assessment, we are in the process of establishing a Code of Conduct for all composers and authors we publish," GIA Publications says.

"These changes will facilitate the community's ability to take prompt action in response to reports of behavioral misconduct."

David Haas is known for contemporary hymns such as "You Are Mine," "We Are Called" and "We Have Been Told,".

Last month, NCR reported accounts of three women chronicling the sexually predatory behavior the Catholic composer had subjected them to.

All three were over the age of 18 at the time of the alleged incidents and had participated in Haas's music workshops as students.

Since a report about the women's experiences was published, about 40 additional women across the United States, Canada and Australia have alleged experiencing similar instances of sexual misconduct by Haas.

"The pattern that I've seen is that David Haas, when he traveled for conferences, for workshops, for concerts, [took the opportunity] ... to target victims," a commentator says.

"What that indicates is that there are likely women in many, many places who have yet to figure out that their experience was not an isolated one."

One accuser says they believe there are professionals in the industry aware of Haas' behavioral history and yet failed to publicly address them.

GIA says it terminated its relationship with Haas in January, when it first "heard a rumor" that his letter of suitability from the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis was under review.

"We did not receive confirmation from the Archdiocese that this was indeed the case," the company says.

Once it received a letter in May showing that a systemic pattern of abusive behavior spanning decades, GIA decided to go public with its suspension on 13 June. Early the following week GIA pulled Haas's music off of the market.

In addition to the assessment GIA has organised, the Association of Catholic Publishers says it is in the "early stages" of an internal conversation about developing a code of ethics for its members in response to the Haas case.

Source

• NCR
• Image: Patheos

Archbishop Peter Loy Chong was responding to a news report on TVNZ by pacific correspondent, Barbara Dreaver.

For the last year, 1 NEWS has been investigating claims of historic sexual abuse against children in Fiji's Catholic church.

Dreaver was in Fiji just before lockdown and spoke to a number of Fijians who say as children they were abused and raped by New Zealand and Australian priests, brothers and teachers.

In making his apology Chong said:

"First and foremost, I empathise with people who are victims of sexual abuse."

"I empathise with their hurt, anger, trauma and feelings.

I empathise with the pain that victims and their families have experienced and continue to experience.

I empathise with the brokenness they have to live with and affect the way they relate to others.

As head of the Fiji Catholic Church, I feel ashamed with the behaviour of our church personnel.

I feel angry. There is a heaviness in my heart yesterday and today.

My first reaction was not to want (to) talk to the media.

On behalf of the Catholic Church in Fiji, I express our remorse for past failures and extend our sincere regret and deep sympathy to peoples-victims of sexual abuse.

The Church apologises unreservedly for any abuse perpetrated by clergy or religious. Sexual abusers have failed the ‘Sixth Commandment' - You must not commit adultery."

Listen to the Archbishop's apology.

The Fiji Sun reported that the archbishop also said:

"Sexual abuse is a serious problem in our society, not only in Catholic Church.

On behalf of the Catholic Church I apologise to victims of abuse, to their families, and to Fijian society - for the hurts inflicted on them by some of our priests, brothers and lay workers," he said.

"The overwhelming number of priests and religious are faithful men and women who share the horror and grief that all people feel when sexual abuse is brought to light."

"The procedures the Archdiocese of Suva follows today represent a serious and genuine effort to help victims of abuse and to eradicate sexual abuse from the Church.

We continue to work to learn from past experience and from the experience of victims to ensure that the danger of sexual abuse is prevented in the future."

"For the Church and for the Archdiocese of Suva, prevention, justice and healing for victims of sexual abuse always come first."

TVNZ reports that the Royal Commission of Inquiry into abuse in care is seeking information about New Zealand priests and other religious perpetrators who were moved to the Pacific.

Source

• tvnz.co.nz
• tvnz.co.nz
• fijisun,com
• fijivillage.com
• Image: fijivillage.com

The allegations follow months of investigation into the man praised by popes and politicians for his humanitarian work in establishing a global network of institutions serving adults with physical and intellectual disabilities.

The accusations involve six women of various "ages, geographic origin and status - married, unmarried, vowed celibate", says a report following the investigation.

The identity of the women has been kept confidential. However, sexual activity with Vanier, who died in May last year aged 90, "was coerced or took place under coercive conditions", the report says.

Four of the six women brought their allegations against Vanier after his death, while two came forward while he was still alive, the first in 2016.

They had no prior knowledge of each other's experiences, but they "reported similar facts associated with highly unusual spiritual or mystical explanations used to justify these sexual behaviours," the report states.

It was L'Arche itself that last April commissioned an independent U.K. consultancy organisation specialising in the reporting of exploitation and abuse, (GCPS), to investigate Vanier's link to Fr. Thomas Philippe, whom Vanier described as his "spiritual mentor".

Vanier wrote publicly in 2015 about the revelations of abuse committed by his spiritual mentor, whose wisdom and dedication to the disabled he said had inspired his own life of service.

The GCPS report's discoveries "shocked" l'Arche International leaders Stephan Posner and Stacy Cates-Carney.

They "unreservedly condemn these actions, which are in total contradiction with the values Jean Vanier claimed and are incompatible with the basic rules of respect and integrity of persons, and contrary to the fundamental principles on which L'Arche is based".

"The considerable good [Vanier] did throughout his life is not in question," Posner says.

L'Arche will "nevertheless have to mourn a certain image we may have had of Jean," he added.

According to archived letters studied in the report, the CDF directed in 1956 that Jean Vanier be informed of the Church's condemnation of Philippe's conduct and "mystical doctrine."

Despite this, Vanier denied in 2015 and 2016 that he had any knowledge of Philippe's abusive behaviour.

The report says Vanier's behaviour follows the pattern of sexually inappropriate behaviour demonstrated by Philippe.

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• The Tablet
• America
• Image: Vatican News

The detainees were part of the school group who travelled to participate in the entertainment and fautasi racing for the celebration of the Flag Day on the territory.

In his statement Ford said that contrary to information conveyed in the media, the adult from the group who was also charged was not a teacher at Don Bosco.

He has provided some voluntary assistance in the school's workshops over the last three months and was travelling with the school group in an adult capacity. Continue reading

Archbishop Peter Loy Chong yesterday confirmed that a priest had been removed from office.

Archbishop Chong said the moment the Church was made aware of the video they "did not sweep the matter under the carpet" and action against the priest was taken immediately.

Chong said although the video showed two consenting adults engaged in sexual activities, it was against the ethics of the Church. Continue reading