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	Bishop Sees No Need for Inquiry By Janet I. Tu The Seattle Times April 9, 2010 http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/3563530/Bishop-sees-no-need-for-inquiry There is no need for a full-scale inquiry into cases of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in New Zealand, the Bishop of Christchurch, Barry Jones, says. Jones was speaking after former police commissioner John Jamieson confirmed one of the five cases of alleged historic sex abuse against members of the Catholic Church currently being investigated originated in the South Island. Jamieson oversees claims of abuse within the church. Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse Trust spokesman Ken Clearwater has already called for a full-scale inquiry into abuse in New Zealand. He said there may be thousands of victims of Catholic sexual abuse in New Zealand. However, Jones said he did not believe there was a need for a full-scale inquiry. "Ken [Clearwater] may have information that I don't know about, but I would not have thought so," he said when asked if a full-scale inquiry was required. Jones said it was two years since the Christchurch diocese had received a complaint of sexual abuse. Catholics in New Zealand were distraught by the recent reports of sex crimes committed by the clergy, he said. "It's caused widespread distress," he said. "We have real reason to be distressed. Child molestation is awful. It doesn't matter who does it." He said "holiness" was required to repair the church's reputation. "The real enemy is child molestation. It doesn't matter who does it. It's happening all through society. The most likely people to molest children are members of their family," he said. Jamieson, who is not a Catholic and operates independently, has carried out 35 reviews of cases in the past five years. He stressed the complaints were mostly "very old". He said, in his own opinion, it was not worth having a full-scale inquiry. "I don't know where they [the victims] are. They haven't come forward. "If they're out there, they should be encouraged to come forward," he said. Most of those accused were dead and, in some cases, there was no allegation of criminal offence. A 65-year-old Christchurch man, who only wanted to be referred to as Noel, alleged he was molested by a brother of the St John of God order. The abuse lasted five years, he said. "If I saw him I'd say, `how could you do something like that?'. I wanted to be a priest when I grew up, but with all this I didn't feel worthy." A full-scale inquiry into sex abuse by the clergy was overdue, he said.
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