CathNews New Zealand

In a recent statement the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child said “tens of thousands of children worldwide” were abused systemically for years within the Catholic Church.

In commenting on the report, the National Director of the Office for Professional Standards, Mr Bill Kilgallon  told Radio New Zealand that in New Zealand all complaints of abuse are given to police and a code of silence has not been evident in the country for at least 20 years.

The Catholic Church in New Zealand set up the Office for Professional Standards to respond to  complaints of abuse against clergy or religious.

Kilgallon says the Church in New Zealand was one of the first to establish clear policies to deal with sexual abuse and most of the reports it now gets are of a historical nature.

But Mr Ken Clearwater, a spokesperson  for Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse Trust, said the Church is playing down the extent of the problem in the country.

Clearwater said the trust continues to get reports of sexual abuse by priests in New Zealand and the problem here is no different to that elsewhere in the world.

“What I’d like to see is that we have a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the institutional care of children – exactly the same as they’re having in Australia at the moment.” he said.

Source

• Radio New Zealand
• Image: Yahoo News
  

Additional reading

• In May 2000 the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference adopted Integrity in Ministry as its official statement of Professional Standards
• The National Office for Professional Standards 2008, revised 2011.
• A Path to Healing

News category: New Zealand.