14% of New Zealand Catholic diocesan clergy have been accused of abuse (including physical, emotional,

sexual abuse Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assa ...

or neglect) since 1950. Several high profile cases are linked to

Catholic schools Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered under the aegis or in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school syst ...

. In 2000 the church acknowledged and apologised for the abuse of children by clergy, putting in place protocols and setting up a national office to handle abuse complaints. In the Royal Commission Enquiry into Abuse in State and Religious care, there have been 1122 complainants against individuals in the Church. In contrast are those in state care, where the numbers abused are in the tens of thousands
source

Specific cases

The first recorded case was in 1900. Allegations of cruelty toward children residing at the Stoke Industrial School (also known as St Mary's Orphanage) instigated a Royal Commission and the eventual prosecution of two

Marist Brothers The Marist Brothers of the Schools, commonly known as simply the Marist Brothers, is an international community of Catholic religious institute of brothers. In 1817, St. Marcellin Champagnat, a Marist priest from France, founded the Marist Brothe ...

. Edouard Forrier (Brother Wybertus) was charged with five counts of common assault. They were also charged with five counts of indecent assault of which they were acquitted. The alleged incidents occurred between September 5, 1893 and June 1, 1897. Marist Brother Claudius Pettit, real name Malcolm Thomas Petit, was convicted of child-sex abuse of a boy at a Wellington school in the 1990s. Father Thomas "Tom" Laffey admitted in 2003 that he had sexually assaulted Mike Phillips in the mid 1960s, when Phillips was a 13-year-old altar boy at St Mary of the Angels Church in Wellington. Laffey was ordained in 1957 and during his priesthood, he served across New Zealand and also in Fiji. In 2018 the Society of Mary admitted that Father Francis Durning sexually abused children. Durning taught in Catholic institutions from the 1940s through to the late 1980s, among others at: * St Bede's College, Christchurch * Chanel College, Moamoa, in Samoa * St Patrick's College, Silverstream, where he was Rector of the school from 1950-1955 * St Patrick's College, Kilbirnie, Wellington In 1999, Christchurch Catholic priest Patrick Thwaites was charged with assaulting two young boys in 1984 and 1991.https://natlib.govt.nz/items?i%5Bsubject%5D=Sexual+misconduct+by+clergy&text=Priest Father Thwaites was soon convicted and sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison. Marist Father Alan Woodcock abused children at St John's College in

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

, St Patrick's College in

Upper Hutt Upper Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Uta) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand and one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. Geography The Upper Hutt city centre lies approximately 26 km north-e ...

, Highden in the Manawatu and Futuna in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

. After he left the Marist priesthood and left New Zealand to live in England, he was extradited back to New Zealand and was convicted in 2004 of 21 sex offences committed between 1978 and 1987. The abuse continued despite the knowledge of Father Michael Curtain and Father Fred Bliss. Tracking him down abroad was done with the assistance of the

Sisters of St Joseph of Nazareth The Sisters of Saint Joseph of Nazareth, also called simply the Sisters of St Joseph or Josephites ("Black Josephites"), are a religious congregation who have their main centre in Whanganui, New Zealand. The congregation was a member of the Fed ...

. In the late 1980s, he took up residence in England, where he was arrested in 2002. Woodcock received a seven year prison sentence. In June 2020, Kevin Healy (Brother Gordon), a former Marist brother, was convicted of four charges of indecency (from 1976-1977) between a man and boys aged 12 and 13, and one of indecency with a girl aged under 12. John Louis Stevenson (known as Brother Bernard) and Brother Andrew Cody of the Hato Paora Māori Boys school in

Feilding Feilding ( mi, Aorangi) is a town in the Manawatū District of the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on State Highway 54, 20 kilometres north of Palmerston North. The town is the seat of the Manawatū District Council. Feilding has ...

were convicted of sexual offenses and jailed. In 2011 a staff member of St Bede's College, Christchurch admitted to being a sex offender before he was employed at that college, but was allowed to remain as a teacher. The same year, Brother Bede Hampton was jailed for sex abuse committed over a long time period at a Catholic school. In 2018, abuse victim advocates called for the resignation of the school's rector for continuing the staff member's employment. In 2017 and 2018, the issue was raised of Magnus Murray, a Catholic priest, who taught at St Paul's College, Dunedin, until 1972 and was later convicted of child sexual abuse.'Paedophile remains a priest'
on'' Otago Daily Times'' website dated 2017-08-11, viewed 10 September 2018 Allegations were also made against former Christian Brothers Junior School teacher, Desmond Fay.'Scale of abuse revealed'
on '' Otago Daily Times'' website, dated 2018-09-07, viewed 2018-09-10

Michael Dooley Michael Joseph Dooley (born 13 December 1961) is a New Zealand prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was appointed as the 7th Bishop of Dunedin, New Zealand on 22 February 2017, ordained bishop on 26 April 2018 and installed on 27 April 20 ...

, Bishop of Dunedin, acknowledged the offences of Murray and Fay and apologised for the "suffering endured by victims and their families".Letter dated 22 August 2018 by Bishop Michael Dooley, published o
Catholic Diocese of Dunedin
website
archived
on

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

on 2018-09-10. Murray was laicised in 2019. In 2018, the Otago Daily Times noted that nine Marist brothers had been convicted of crimes against boys. These were Br Charles Afeaki (Invercargill), Br Kenneth Camden (Christchurch), Br Sione Losalu (Napier), Br Bryan McKay (Hamilton), Br Andrew Cody (Feilding), Br Bernard Stevenson (Fielding), Br Bede Hampton (Masterton), Br Patrick Bignell (Hutt Valley) and Br Claudius Pettit (Lower Hutt). Another, Br Aiden Benefield, of Napier, was convicted of possessing child pornography in 2007. In 2018, a Royal Commission into Abuse In Care was established and Faith based institutions were included. At the redress hearing in Dec 2020, more allegations of abuse were leveled at Marist Brothers in the survivor testimony brought before the commission. The newly named perpetrators were Br Bede Fitton, Br Giles Waters, Br Gordon (Kevin Healy), Br Michael Beaumont. Kevin Healy and Michael Beaumont have been before the courts, pled guilty and been given home detention sentences. In 2022 Kevin Healy appeared in court again and appears likely to get a custodial sentence.

Marylands School

Marylands School, which was operated by the Brothers Hospitallers of St. John of God, a Catholic religious order in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

, was the centre of a number of sex abuse cases. By 2006, the

Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologi ...

n branch of the St John of God order had paid out $5.1 million to survivors who had been sexually abused at the school. A nonprofit trust, the Survivors of Sex Abuse Trust, worked with many of the victims. Over 120 complaints were made in regard to sexual and physical abuse alleged to have occurred at the school. Many of the offences were committed in the 1970s.

Transfer of accused clergy to Fiji

On July 13, 2020, New Zealand's

1 News ''1 News'' (stylised as ''1News'') is the news division of New Zealand television network TVNZ. The service is broadcast live from TVNZ Centre in Auckland. The flagship news bulletin is the nightly 6 pm news hour, but ''1 News'' also has ...

revealed that some of the 1,300 alleged cases of child-abuse by Catholic personnel in the nation of Fiji involved clergy from New Zealand. The transfer of these persons to Fiji is a subject of the New Zealand Royal Commission investigation of child abuse in state and faith-based institutions in New Zealand. 1 News Pacific Correspondent Barbara Dreaver, who was in Fiji just before the national lockdown, spoke with some of the victims of the alleged abuse. Dr Murray Heasley from the Network of Survivors in Faith Based Institution also stated to 1 News that Fiji was a common place for the New Zealand Catholic Church to transfer accused Catholic clergy.

References

External links

Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse Trust
- New Zealand support group * {{Abuse __NOTOC__ Education in New Zealand Sexual abuse scandals in Catholic orders and societies Sexual abuse cover-ups Violence against children Violence against men Violence against women in New Zealand

Specific cases

Marylands School

Transfer of accused clergy to Fiji

See also

References

External links