Tui Motu comments on The New Zealand Catholic Bishops and Leaders of Religious Congregations published research on reported cases of abuse in the Church from the 1950s to 2021.

In one country after another around the world the abuse of children and adults by priests, religious and other Church members has been uncovered. Many of these offences and crimes were known to Church authorities but in most cases they were excused and hidden. Church authorities decided to protect the “good name of the Church” rather than the children and adult victims — the members of the Church. That response was widespread. In the recent report on the Archdiocese of Munich-Freising, Germany, Benedict XVI was accused of “misconduct” in his dealing with four complaints from his time as archbishop there in the 1970s and 80s. The challenge now is for Church authorities to act humbly, compassionately and truthfully, showing the integrity the Gospel calls for.

Prodded by survivors of abuse, their families and the media, government interventions such as the Royal Commission into Institutional Reponses to Child Sexual Abuse in Australia and the Royal Commission on Abuse in Care in Aotearoa New Zealand have revealed the scale of the abuse and some of the pain of survivors.

We know that by establishing the National Office of Professional Standards the Church has worked hard in recent years to address and take seriously the issue of abuse. But these improvements come too late for many victims and survivors.

The Christian Churches in New Zealand asked to be included in the Royal Commission. In preparation they combed their storage places for reports of abuse over the decades from the 1950s. Now we have a picture of the extent of abuse in the Catholic Church in Aotearoa, although we know that many victims will never have reported their abuse.

Published Report of Research

Last month the New Zealand Catholic Bishops and Leaders of Religious Congregations published the results of their research into reported cases of abuse from the 1950s to 30 June 2021 — preparation requested by the Royal Commission. Te Rōpū Tautoko, the group that coordinates Church engagement with the Royal Commission, acknowledged that although “the Information Gathering Project (IGP) was a major exercise involving dozens of people over two years, including searching paper files dating back 70 years in hundreds of places” there will still be other unknown, unreported cases.

The IGP used the Commission’s definition of abuse which includes physical, sexual and emotional or psychological abuse, and neglect. Failure to act on reports and facilitating abuse were also included in the categorisation of reports of abuse.

The IGP report is bruising reading — but by now, not surprising. As religious congregations representative Sister Margaret Anne Mills said: “Each piece of data represents many people’s lives. Much of it represents terrible harm committed by one person on another. We can never forget that.”

Cardinal John Dew, president of the NZ Catholic Bishops Conference said the statistics “are horrifying and something we are deeply ashamed of.”

Number of Abuse Reports 1950s-2021

According to the IGP, from the 1950s to 2021, 1,680 reports of abuse were made by 1,122 individuals against clergy, brothers, sisters and other lay people in the Church.

Alleged Perpetrators

378 reports were made about 182 diocesan clergy — that is 14 per cent of all diocesan clergy serving from the 1950s to 2020.

599 reports were made about 187 brothers and priests belonging to a religious congregation — 8 per cent of all.

258 reports were made about 120 women religious — 3 per cent of all.

And 138 allegations were made against 103 mostly lay staff, volunteers and similar people in the Church.

Reports about Children

Of the total 1,680 complaints, 1,350 involved children and 164 involved adults. In 167 cases the age of the person was unknown.

Almost half (835) were reports of sexual harm against a child.

Of these, 687 relate to educa-tional facilities such as schools and boarding schools, 425 to residential care such as orphanages, hostels and social service agencies, 228 to parishes and 122 to other locations. For a further 219, the actual location of where the alleged abuse happened is unknown.

The IGP found that in all but 308 reports the alleged abusers were identified. A total of 1,296 reports were against 592 named alleged abusers. Of this group, 393 had one report about them, 143 had two to four reports, 40 had five to nine, 10 had 10 to 14 and six had 15 or more reports. Those six people accounted for more than 10 per cent of all reports of alleged abuse.

Abuse Reports in Decades

The reports also show the decade when the abuse started. There were 62 cases before 1950; 204 in the 1950s; 376 in the 1960s; 447 in the 1970s; 202 in the 1980s; 68 in the 1990s; 33 in the 2000s; 56 in the 2010s; 3 in the 2020s. In 229 cases the date was unknown.

Payments Made

The IGP also showed the payments made by Church authorities in response to their dealing with the reports. A total of $16.8 million has been paid directly to approximately 470 survivors in pastoral or ex gratia payments by dioceses or religious congregations. $8 million has been paid to survivors of the St John of God Brothers and nearly $2 million has been paid by the Sisters of Nazareth.

In addition to the above, dioceses and religious congregations have provided paid counselling and therapeutic and social support, as well as in-kind support such as payment of school fees.

Royal Commission Is Ongoing

The IGP found that 236 reports of abuse (14 per cent of all complaints) relate to Marylands School Christchurch, a residential school for boys, many with disabilities, run from the 1950s to 1984 by the Hospitaller Order of St John of God brothers and at the Hebron Trust, a Christchurch facility for at-risk youth operated by one of the brothers.

The three most prolific offenders worked at Marylands, and the most prolific offender went on to establish the Hebron Trust.

A further 239 reports of abuse (also 14 per cent of the total) relate to St Joseph’s Orphanage (an institution adjacent to Marylands) and Nazareth House, Christchurch. Half of those reports do not identify an offender.

Last month the Royal Commission investigated the events at Mary-lands, the Hebron Trust and St Joseph’s Orphanage. We heard the witnesses’ stories.

How do we deal with this legacy as a Church? Margaret Anne Mills DOLC said: “Being involved in being part of healing that harm, as much as is possible, is, and needs to continue to be, our focus. All Church leaders need to urgently understand and acknowledge our shared history; understand and acknowledge the shocking impact of abuse in church settings on victims and their families; understand what it means for survivors and our faith communities; and act today.”

Cardinal Dew said: “As we continue to respond to the Royal Commission into Abuse and we build a safer Church for everyone, I firmly hope that facts like these will help us to face the sad reality. The Church will learn from this and affirm its commitment to the work of safeguarding.”

Tui Motu Magazine. Issue 268 March 2022: 18-19