Offending by priest
this from the media.’’
His letter was circulated to parishioners, and to parents, by the three bodies that received it.
Gilchrist’s message to parents said the school board took Raass’ offending very seriously and it was praying for the victim.
Her note said the board members were ‘‘surprised and dismayed to find out about this for the first time when it was published in the Sunday Star-Times’’.
Gilchrist’s letter said while the church told the school’s former principal of the police investigation in January 2018, the board was not informed, and neither the schools nor the parish were told of his conviction 14 months later.
St Mary’s parish ran a short note in its parish bulletin, saying it had ‘‘requested an urgent response’’ from the diocese.
Dave Wood, chairman of the parish’s pastoral council, said: ‘‘We’re happy with the outcome. He [Dunn] has written to us and addressed the [issue].
‘‘It is a diocese matter, rather than a parish matter, so it is up to them how they handle it [but] we would have liked to have been informed earlier.
‘‘We understood they couldn’t divulge everything because of the suppression orders but we advised them it would have been nice to learn about it before the story was published.’’
A disgruntled parent was pleased with the school board’s response but disgusted with the diocese’s approach. ‘‘It’s another partial sorry when they have been caught out,’’ he said.
‘‘It is ridiculous they did not inform us. The letter is the weakest thing I’ve seen in some time: it’s apologising for how we feel.
‘‘I’m irate: it is classic Catholic obstruction and disinformation; hiding the facts and the truth and it’s the reason why the Catholic church continues to be in trouble.
‘‘Until there is systematic change at the top of the church, they are going to be in this mess for a long time.’’
Auckland Catholic diocese spokeswoman Lyndsay Freer said Dunn did not want to be interviewed but would consider written questions.
The Star-Times’ questions included asking what legal advice Dunn had taken to lead him to decide not to tell parishioners, what he would do differently in the future, and whether he thought describing Raass’ actions as ‘‘inappropriate text messaging’’ served to minimise the offending.
In response, Freer provided a statement saying: ‘‘The bishop believes that this letter is selfexplanatory, and covers the questions you raise. The bishop is happy to meet personally with anyone who wants further clarification.’’