WELLINGTON (NEW ZEALAND)
NewsHub [Auckland, NZ]
June 5, 2024
By Michael Morrah
[Watch: The Vatican has decided New Zealand Cardinal John Dew can resume his duties.]
The Vatican has concluded there will be no further church investigation into an allegation of abuse against New Zealand Cardinal John Dew and he can return to normal church duties.
The Archbishop of Wellington, Paul Martin, said in a statement that the Vatican concluded no further church inquiry is required.
“Cardinal Dew can now resume public activities that he stood aside from under Church protocols when the allegation was brought to the attention of the Church in May last year,” Archbishop Martin said.
“The Church became aware of an allegation of abuse being made against Cardinal Dew at about the same time as his retirement,” he continued.
“Cardinal Dew immediately stood aside from all public church activities while the police investigated the allegations.”
In March, Newshub revealed Dew had been investigated by police.
The investigation was sparked by Steve Carvell who alleged he was abused by Dew and another priest, Father Noel Donoghue, when he was a seven-year-old at St Joseph’s Orphanage in Upper Hutt.
Dew strenuously denied the allegation.
Police investigated Carvell’s complaint but did not lay charges saying they were “unable to locate sufficient evidence”.
Complainant Steve Carvell told Newshub he was never contacted by the Vatican as part of its review.
“I was speechless”, Carvell told Newshub.
“How can you possibly have a review, when you don’t speak to the complainant,” he said.
Carvell said he was never informed how the review would be carried out or which officials in Rome were involved.
“It felt like a foregone conclusion.”
A separate investigation is now underway by the Office of Professional Standards, which is the Catholic Church’s agency established to investigate complaints of abuse by its members.
This inquiry will not examine the allegations against John Dew, but will investigate allegations made against priest Noel Donoghue, who died in 2005, and a nun.
In February, police told Newshub their enquiries had concluded, and the case was closed.
However, two months later, a request for Official Information about the case was refused on the basis that “the case is still a current investigation and not yet closed.”
Newshub sought clarity from police on the status of the investigation. In a statement, police said “the investigation remains active, however is coming to a close.”
This story has been updated to include a new statement from police on the status of the investigation.