CHRISTCHURCH (NEW ZEALAND)
Stuff [Wellington, New Zealand]
February 17, 2022
By Marine Lourens
Repeated claims that the St John of God order was “deeply shameful” of the abuse that occurred over decades at Marylands School in Christchurch have been labelled as hollow words by the survivors of the abuse.
In his closing statement before the royal commission of inquiry on Thursday, Dr Christopher Longhurst from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) slammed claims by leaders of the Catholic Church that it welcomed the inquiry.
He pointed out that church leaders initially opposed that faith-based institutions be included in the inquiry.
“Simply stating that the church is shameful in 2022 after it was forced to become the subject of a royal commission, is entirely insufficient,” Longhurst said.
“Where was their shame decades ago when child victims and their parents first reported the abuse? Where was their shame when disgraced brothers were shipped overseas instead of facing justice? Where was their shame when some of their victims took their own lives?”
Longhurst said the order liked to point out that convicted child abuser Bernard McGrath was likely to spend the rest of his life in prison, but that was not the result of anything the order had done.
The order liked to emphasise that McGrath had been prosecuted and convicted, even though he was responsible for only 5 per cent of the reported abuse held by Catholic Church authorities in New Zealand.
By using McGrath as a scapegoat for the abuse that happened at Marylands, the order was once again denying the systemic nature of the abuse, Longhurst said.
“Where was their shame in 2019 when Timothy Graham wrote to Bernard McGrath, a known prolific paedophile even then, telling him to ‘go well and keep the brothers in your prayers’?”
Dr Murray Heasley and Liz Tonks, who delivered a statement on behalf of the Network of Survivors of Abuse in Faith-based Institutions and Their Supporters, echoed the view that the Catholic Church had failed to be truly accountable.
“The current bishops know what happened at Marylands and in nearly every other of their institutions in New Zealand and have taken no action,” Tonks said.PlayUnmuteCurrent Time 0:02/Duration 23:54Loaded: 2.77% Picture-in-PictureFullscreenTHE DETAIL/RNZIn this episode of The Detail podcast, RNZ talks to Aaron Smale, who has spent five years tracking down and reporting stories of state care abuse. (First published October 2020)
“Marylands was, in reality, a state supported church-run brothel that serviced the needs of paedophiles and the children were essentially sex slaves and labourers.”
Sally McKechnie, who represented the bishops and leaders of the Catholic Church in New Zealand at the hearing, said in her closing statement that the church did not want to question the evidence of survivors, but “learn how the church can ensure that proper redress and healing takes place for survivors of abuse”.
The fact some survivors wanted a close and supportive relationship with the church while others did not want any relationship with the church at all, made it “very challenging” to implement a fair and effective model of redress.
McKechnie said a further challenge was determining how to provide effective financial redress.
Referring to testimony by some survivors who said they had little if any of the money left they received as redress payment, McKechnie said payments had to be delivered in a way that gave survivors the freedom to choose how they wanted to spend the money, while balancing that with the need to provide them long-term support.
She said the church had since implemented additional processes around abuse and safeguarding, but “there is clearly still work to do”.
Tonks said society as a whole needed to change and stop tolerating child abuse. “Unless we dismantle the systems that support it, it will not stop,” she said.
“Our Government has the responsibility and the means to make the changes required. Survivors need urgent action on their resolution to have an independent state entity for complaints, redress, and the monitoring, safeguarding and holding to account of institutions.”
Dr Michelle Mulvihill, a former nun turned clinical psychologist who worked for the St John of God brothers from 1998 to 2007, said even she was drawn into trusting St John of God only to have it repeatedly attempt to erode her professionalism and “use and abuse” her reputation and standing.
“If I, a mature, professional woman, fell into the grasp of these men without seeing what I see now, what hope would a child have of escaping grooming and abuse?” she said.
Mulvihill said St John of God’s protection of its “outrageous wealth”, its members’ deviant sexual behaviour and their obedience to “closing ranks” was indefensible and unforgivable. They continued to live in “ideological hiding places”, she said.
“I would hope the NZ Government is very certain that it is heavily committed that this cruelty inflicted upon children can never happen again.
“This is not just a dark chapter in the history of NZ. It is an opportunity to write a new book, a different story, one that is built on the absolute assurance that the dignity of every New Zealand child will be safeguarded.”