City abuses referred to Vatican
THE handling of historic sexual offending within the Catholic Diocese of Dunedin by then-Bishop John Kavanagh has been referred to the Vatican by New Zealand’s top Catholic.
It was confirmed yesterday Cardinal John Dew, the Archbishop of Wellington, has written to the Vatican to refer the matter to higher authorities.
The move came after Pope Francis, earlier this year, issued new procedures for the handling of sexual abuse and coverups, including that bishops be held accountable for past actions.
Dunedin Bishop Michael Dooley, contacted overseas, confirmed the move yesterday, but said the National Office of Professional Standards (NOPS) — part of the Catholic Church in New Zealand — was also involved.
‘‘I am waiting to hear back from NOPS once they get a notification from the Vatican about the next course of action.’’
It was not yet clear whether the Vatican could launch its own investigation, or direct the NOPS to do so, but it was understood the focus was on what Bishop Kavanagh knew, and what he did, when allegations of sexual abuse first emerged.
Cardinal Dew is also overseas, and a spokesman for the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference declined to comment yesterday.
NOPS director Virginia Noonan also declined to comment.
Confirmation of the Vatican’s involvement came after ODT Insight, in its Marked by the Cross series, revealed significant offending by priests, religious brothers and lay teachers within the Catholic Diocese of Dunedin, much of it dating back decades.
That included the actions of a former Catholic priest, Magnus Murray, whose offending against boys in Dunedin — from the 1950s to the 1970s — was brought to Bishop Kavanagh’s attention in 1972.
The investigation showed Bishop Kavanagh had moved Murray to Australia, and later allowed him to resume public ministry in the North Island, where more victims have since emerged.
Murray was eventually forced into retirement in 1990, as fresh allegations emerged, but retained his title as a priest even after he was eventually convicted of offences against four Dunedin boys in 2003.
He was only finally defrocked by the Vatican earlier this year, after the matter was referred to the Vatican by Bishop of Hamilton Steve Lowe.
Bishop Kavanagh’s defenders have insisted he acted according to best practice at the time in dealing with Murray, but others — including survivors and their supporters — have criticised his actions and his ignorance of other past abuses.
A SUPPORT group for survivors of sexual abuse by priests wants more transparency over an agreement struck with the Catholic Diocese of Dunedin.
But the call by Dr Christopher Longhurst, representing the New Zealand branch of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (Snap), has also triggered an acrimonious exchange with another support group.
Dr Longhurst, a Wellingtonbased abuse survivor and Catholic Institute academic, contacted the Otago Daily Times this week to draw attention to concerns about an agreement signed earlier this year.
The memorandum of understanding was signed by Catholic Bishop of Dunedin the Most Rev Michael Dooley and representatives from the Male Survivors Aotearoa (MSA) support group in March.
MSA describes itself as New Zealand’s recognised national organisation for male survivors of sexual violence, and says it supports more than 1500 survivors across the country, including more than 40 in Dunedin.
The memorandum of understanding spells out a process by which survivors of faithbased abuse will be referred by the church to a new MSA group launched in Dunedin, which will help survivors access counselling and other services.
It also includes a commercial relationship between the two parties, whereby the church will provide MSA with some funding for counselling and other support services for survivors.
This week, Dr Longhurst told the ODT he was concerned the signatories were not prepared to make public a copy of the agreement.
He said Snap was an international movement launched in the US in 1988, and now represented 25,000 survivors and supporters internationally. It launched a New Zealand chapter — headed by him — earlier this year.
Snap New Zealand wanted a copy to use as a template for its own agreements, and emailed Bishop Dooley in July to request one, but Male Survivors Aotearoa had replied, declining to release the ‘‘confidential agreement’’.
That prompted Dr Longhurst to email Bishop Dooley again in September, asking him to ‘‘desist’’ from signing such confidential agreements in future, arguing such secrecy had harmed victims before.
The secrecy also contradicted Pope Francis’ recent efforts to promote transparency and openness, Dr Longhurst argued.
The email prompted a response from Male Survivors Aotearoa trustee Tony Chamberlain, who emailed Snap’s international chief executive, Zach Hiner, to say the requests were ‘‘totally disrespectful and completely inappropriate’’.
‘‘We consider the letter [email] a totally offensive affront to the integrity of all concerned,’’ Mr Chamberlain said in the email to Mr Hiner.
Copies of the emails were shared with the ODT this week, and Dr Longhurst maintained the approach was wrong, although he stressed he was not making a ‘‘personal attack’’ on Bishop Dooley.
‘‘The issue is very clear. It’s wrong for any peer support group to get into confidential agreements with the Catholic Church — absolutely wrong.’’
MSA chairman Philip Chapman defended the agreement — the existence of which was not confidential — as well as Bishop Dooley, who had been ‘‘totally supportive’’ and ‘‘clearly concerned for’’ survivors.
The agreement was in the best interests of survivors and the group’s purpose, and its most important element was an assurance of the confidentiality of support services provided to survivors, he said.
It also included a ‘‘modest’’ financial contribution from the church, which was invested ‘‘directly in the support services for the survivors referred’’, he said.
Bishop Dooley, contacted overseas, said he also valued the chance to support survivors, and all parties to the agreement ‘‘take seriously the confidentiality of information concerning the privacy of survivors’’.
‘‘This is an agreement between our two organisations with the good of survivors the priority.’’