The royal commission published its first interim reports on December 16.

“These reports will contain much important information and guidance that follow on from what survivors have told the commissioners about their experiences,” said Catherine Fyfe, chair of the Church’s Te Rōpū Tautoko agency.

“Church leaders will be discussing these reports widely, with the aim of looking at how we can continue to improve the way we help people who have been abused, and the systems we have in place to prevent further abuse.”

Te Rōpū Tautoko member and Archbishop of Wellington, Cardinal John Dew, said: “The bishops and congregational leaders as well as many individual Church members listened carefully to the experiences of survivors as they spoke at the recent royal commission redress hearings. We want the events of the past to be examined transparently and openly. We are deeply sorry for the harm caused to so many by the abuse they suffered, and we continue to express our profound sorrow.”

Te Rōpū Tautoko is the agency that coordinates and manages cooperation between the Catholic Church and the royal commission. It was formed by the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference (representing the bishops of the country’s six dioceses) and the Congregational Leaders’ Conference (representing Catholic religious congregations in New Zealand).

Catholic Church leaders asked for the Church and other faith-based bodies to be included in the royal commission’s terms of reference, which originally included only state organisations.

Numbers projected for abuse in faith-based care

Research by consultants for the Royal Commission on Abuse in Care estimated that between 42,342 and 83,841 people were abused in faithbased care settings in New Zealand between 1950 and 2019.

The research, by MartinJenkins, estimated that 254,000 people passed through faith-based care settings in those years. This was out of an estimated total of 655,000 people in those years who were in care in four types of settings — social welfare care, state educational care, state health and disability care, as well as the faith-based care. These represent a subset of the full range of settings in the inquiry’s terms of reference.

MartinJenkins estimated that 254,000 people were in faith-based care settings from 1950 to 2019, with: 143,000 people (56 per cent) in faith-based children’s homes,
orphanages, and foster homes; 109,000 (43 per cent) in faith-based boarding schools; 1600 (0.6 per cent) in faith-based residential disability care settings.

In the 1950s, MartinJenkins estimate that 53,000 people were in faith-based care settings, reducing to around 25,000 people by the 2010s.

Of the estimated 655,000 who passed through care in total, MartinJenkins estimate that between 17 per cent (114,000) and 39 per cent (256,000) experienced abuse while in care.

A report published on December 16 alongside the royal commission’s interim report stated that: “While there are substantial gaps in the data available for this cohort analysis, it is clear that more people have passed through the care settings examined than was previously known or, in some cases, estimated before the establishment of the inquiry. Even on the most conservative indicative estimates, there has been more abuse in care than previously thought. On any assessment, this is a serious and long-standing social problem that needs to be addressed.”

“We will probably never know for certain how many children, young people, and vulnerable adults were abused in care in Aotearoa New Zealand in the period 1950 to 2019,” the report noted. “We can, however, make indicative estimates and continue to develop our knowledge . . . throughout the life of the inquiry.” Nonetheless, the report cautioned that the indicative estimates of the number of people who were in care, and numbers who may have been abused in care, developed by MartinJenkins are high-level indicative estimates only.

“Due to the lack of Aotearoa New Zealand research on the prevalence of abuse in care, MartinJenkins’ indicative estimates on this are based largely on international studies. International studies are, however, more heavily weighted towards some types of abuse than others (for example, physical and sexual abuse) and mostly exclude neglect. This means the indicative estimates of abuse provided by MartinJenkins would almost certainly be higher, and possibly significantly higher, had they included all forms of abuse within the scope of the inquiry.”

The royal commission’s scope, by comparison, is much broader and encompasses physical and sexual abuse, as well as emotional and psychological abuse, and neglect. MartinJenkins’ indicative estimates of prevalence may, therefore, not reflect all forms of abuse within the scope of the Inquiry, the report stated.

It was also noted that caution is required when applying overseas studies to Aotearoa New Zealand.

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The first week of the two-week public hearing saw 10 survivors of abuse in the Catholic Church in New Zealand or their family members speak at the royal commission. There was one closed session in the first week. The second week was scheduled to see 14 survivors of abuse in the Anglican Church or Salvation Army institutions give their testimony. Many of the testimonies were live-streamed.

The royal commission said these hearings  “will investigate the adequacy of the redress processes of the Catholic Church, Anglican Church and the Salvation Army and what needs to be done to support people who have been abused or neglected in faith-based institutions”.

These hearings “will not examine the merits of any individual claims, nor resolve disputed factual issues relating to those claims”, the royal commission added.

Among the changes in Church practice and policy called for by survivors at the hearing were for there to be more lay people and women in Church leadership, better training, screening and monitoring of priests, removal of the seal of the confessional in cases of child abuse, and voluntary priestly celibacy, as well as greatly improved processes for Church responses to survivors. Many were highly critical of how dioceses or religious orders had responded in their own cases or in those of other survivors, and said they had lost all confidence in the Church’s processes this matter.

Survivor Frances Tagaloa said in a witness statement that she agreed with The Network for Survivors of Abuse in Faith-based Institutions (The Network), “that all victim survivors of abuse as children need access to report the abuse they experienced to a fully inclusive independent national body whether it be a commission or tribunal, with powers to investigate their reports and disclosures, report to police and require compliance with its recommendations for redress”.

Speaking at the opening of the hearing, lawyer Sally McKechnie, representing the bishops and congregational leaders, reportedly said the hearing was not a place to question or challenge survivors, but rather to listen and learn from their experiences.

She also said that the “bishops and congregational leaders express their profound regret and sorrow that anyone has experienced harm in the care of the Church”.

Ms McKechnie added that the Church was fully committed to co-operating with any police inquiry.

In a facebook post before the hearing, Auckland Bishop Patrick Dunn said “the Church, and society in general, has been far too slow to acknowledge the tragic, long term consequences that abuse experienced during childhood has had on people’s lives. All forms of abuse are not only unacceptable, but also indefensible”.

“The Church, and society in general, has been far too slow to acknowledge the tragic, long term consequences that abuse experienced during childhood has had on people’s lives. All forms of abuse are not only unacceptable, but also indefensible”- Bishop Patrick Dunn

“We have strongly endorsed the need for this royal commission from the very beginning,” Bishop Dunn said.

“It is a significant opportunity for us all to acknowledge the past, listen and learn from the experience of survivors of abuse and participate in seeking justice for them.”

A statement quoting members of Te Rōpū Tautoko – the Church agency formed to co-ordinate and manage cooperation between the royal commission and the Catholic Church, as represented by the NZ Catholic Bishops Conference and the Congregational Leaders Conference (CLCANZ) – made similar comments to those of Bishop Dunn, as well as expressing commitments to act to stop abuse in the Church and to implement the commission’s eventual recommendations. Cardinal John Dew was among those quoted.

Te Rōpū Tautoko has provided thousands of pages of requested historical documents to the commission.

Some 10 days before the opening of the hearing,  the Catholic Church, under section 15 of the Inquiries Act 2013, applied for non-publication orders in respect of certain aspects of survivor witness evidence due to be heard at the hearing, citing, among other things, a lack of time to give notice to those involved or to families of people named, and the disputed nature of some material. The commission chair Coral Shaw and member Dr Andrew Erueti declined the applications to prohibit the publication of some 15 names, most of whom are deceased. The commission’s decision said that reasons for its decision in this matter would be published later. Survivor advocates criticised the Church for making these applications.

The commission’s decision also stated that members of the faith-based institutions attending all or any of the hearing should not come in religious clothing or uniform, but should instead come in ordinary attire.

The second phase of the redress hearing, to be held in March-April next year, will focus on evidence on redress processes from witnesses called on behalf of the Catholic Church, Anglican Church and Salvation Army.

A royal commission hearing into redress for those abused in state institutions took place earlier this year.

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The commission said it will investigate “abuse and neglect that occurred from 1950 to 1999, and has the discretion to consider abuse that occurred before 1950, and from 1999 to the present day”.

Cardinal John Dew, Vice-President of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference and a Tautoko member, said this will help in the work of safeguarding the vulnerable.

“We reaffirm our support for the work of the Royal Commission and our desire to learn from its work, which we are confident will contribute positively to the safeguarding of all people, and strengthening of families, communities and the wider society,” Cardinal Dew said.

Te Rōpū Tautoko chair Catherine Fyfe  – the Church body established to liaise with the Royal Commission –  also welcomed the publication of the documents. Te Rōpū Tautoko was set up by the NZ Catholic Bishops Conference and the Congregational Leaders’ Conference Aotearoa New Zealand to ensure the Church provides a co-ordinated and co-operative response to the Royal Commission from all the many dioceses, congregations and institutions of the Church.

“Te Rōpū Tautoko is already working with the commission’s staff; and with Catholic dioceses and congregations to ensure timely and comprehensive responses, with transparency and openness,” Ms Fyfe said. “We will do all we can to positively engage in this important process of listening, acknowledging, learning, and reaffirming commitment to safeguarding the vulnerable.”

“At the heart of our responses to the Royal Commission is a set of principles based on the belief that every person has innate human dignity. With that at the front of our mind we enter this process wanting to primarily listen to, learn from, and support those harmed in Catholic institutions.”

The commission has published documents giving the details of its investigation into the Church –  including the Church’s part in faith-based redress for survivors – which will form part of the commission’s inquiry into the historic abuse of children in state- and faith-based care.

The commission said its investigation “will examine abuse which occurred in the care of the Catholic Church in Aotearoa New Zealand. The Catholic Church has provided care to children, young people and vulnerable adults from the 19th Century, and continues to provide care today.  The care provided has extended from its broadest pastoral obligations, to care within different institutional settings and entities including residential and non-residential care and schools. ”

The bishops and congregational leaders sought to have the Church included in the work of the Royal Commission, which when first established was limited to inquiring into abuse in state care.

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