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The Bishop of Auckland says he believes an Auckland woman’s claim that she is the daughter of a Catholic priest.
Bishop Patrick Dunn says he has seen and accepted further evidence.
The woman has not made her name public and uses the pseudonym ‘Kathleen’.
Bishop Dunn says he told the woman that he confirmed this in writing.
Bishop Dunn at first held doubts about the priest’s paternity. He felt there was conflicting DNA evidence.
It showed that the woman may have been the daughter of the priest’s sister.
“Now I do accept that she is the daughter, and not the niece, of a priest,” Bishop Dunn says.
DNA confirmation
The DNA test results show a probability of 99.999% that the late priest was her father.
‘Kathleen’ says she sought nothing more than acknowledgement.
She says it ends 50 years of secrecy.
Both her mother and father died with the secret.
“It’s actually huge because it shows now that you can in confidence go to the Catholic Church … and then work together. It’s a real celebration for the Church as well”, she says.
Bishop Dunn expected the extended family would be “distressed”.
He says they had been shocked that a priest they respected and loved could have had a child.
He says he hopes they would now accept the facts.
Bishop Dunn says he has no objection to naming the priest.
But he says it’s up to ‘Kathleen’. She has declined, saying that would hurt other people.
Bishop Dunn says if a priest should father a child, he should leave the priesthood and look after his family.
New Zealand’s Bishops have agreed to talk about the issue of the children of priests at their next national meeting in a few weeks.
Kathleen said she believed the Church was now likely to bring in some proper processes.
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