Church apologises for hiding

Two schools and a parish church have complained after only learning of a Catholic priest’s sexoffence conviction from the media. Steve Kilgallon reports.

The Catholic Church has been forced to apologise to outraged parents who only learned their parish priest had been convicted of sex offences through a story in the Sunday Star-Times.

Sosefo Sateki Raass quit the priesthood after pleading guilty in March 2019 to indecent communication with a person under 16. He was sentenced to 100 hours’ community service.

But it was not until the StarTimes reported his offending this month that his parishioners, and the board and parents of two schools in his pastoral care, learned why he had left.

One parent of a Marist student said he was ‘‘irate’’ the church had once again opted to cover up, rather than be open, about offending by its priests.

Raass admitted possessing semi-nude photographs of a teenage girl, which she had sent to him over Facebook.

He was initially stood down, then applied to be laicised.

Raass was parish priest of St Mary’s Church, in Auckland’s Mt Albert, and local schools Marist Primary and Marist College both fell under his pastoral care.

But neither the parish, nor the two schools, were ever told by the Catholic diocese of Auckland about Raass’ offending – only his suspension.

The schools and the parish collectively complained to the Bishop of Auckland, Patrick Dunn.

Marist Primary board chairwoman Catherine Gilchrist wrote a note to parents, saying the school had conveyed ‘‘our disappointment around the poor communication and lack of transparency from the diocese’’.

In his letter of response, Dunn described Raass’ offending as ‘‘some inappropriate text messaging’’.

‘‘With hindsight, I regret that you were not given more information from us at the time,’’ Dunn wrote, saying the diocese felt legally constrained about commenting while the matter was before the courts.

‘‘I apologise for the hurt and disappointment this may have caused.’’

Dunn added: ‘‘It is most regrettable that many of you learned of

STUFF Sosefo Sateki Raass pleaded guilty to a sexual offence in March 2019. The priest of St Mary’s Church, in Auckland’s Mt Albert, was later sentenced to 100 hours’ community service. But his parish was not told.