Marie Collins (pictured), a survivor of clerical sexual abuse, who served on the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, said she was concerned that the Vatican reforms could lead to the body losing independence.

Collins said that the Curia reorganisation unveiled by Pope Francis on March 19, which will see the Commission become part of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, will further undermine the work of the body she was once part of.

"When I was on the Commission, we got a lot of resistance to our work from the doctrinal congregation. They basically felt that we were interfering. And that, I believe, is the norm in the Vatican. They really do not like anyone who are seen as outsiders coming in," Collins told The Irish Catholic.

Collins quit her Vatican role in 2017, warning that "the reluctance of some in the Vatican Curia to implement recommendations or cooperate with the work of a commission, when the purpose is to improve the safety of children and vulnerable adults around the world, is unacceptable."

Under the pope's new apostolic constitution for the Roman Curia, due to take effect in June, the Commission will now work "within" the newly renamed Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. However, it will continue to have its own offices, officials and statutes.

Collins said if Pope Francis thought a department should oversee the commission's work, the doctrinal dicastery would be the wrong one.

The problem "all along" with how the church handled abuse was that "it was looked at as a legal problem and a problem of discipline. But it's not, and the (doctrinal dicastery) has a very bad history of dealing with survivors in a caring and healing way; that has not changed in recent times, either," she said.

But Cardinal Seán O'Malley of Boston, who heads the Commission for the Protection of Minors, praised the reforms of "Praedicate Evangelium" ("Preach the Gospel"). He insisted that "for the first time, Pope Francis has made safeguarding and the protection of minors a fundamental part of the structure of the Church's central government: the Roman Curia.

"Linking the Commission more closely with the work of the new Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith represents a significant move forward in upgrading the place and mandate of the Commission. This can only lead to a stronger culture of safeguarding throughout the Curia and the entire church," O'Malley said.

Cardinal O'Malley continued, "the renewed and reaffirmed Pontifical Commission will play an increasingly incisive role in ensuring the church is a safe place for children and vulnerable persons."

Sources

National Catholic Reporter

CathNews New Zealand

In March, the diocese struck a memorandum of understanding with the Male Survivors of Aotearoa (MSA) support group.

The document details the process where abuse survivors are referred to MSA, which in turn will help survivors access counselling and other services.

The commercial deal includes funding from the diocese.

However, Dr Christopher Longhurst (pictured), founder of the newly established New Zealand branch of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), wants more transparency over the agreement.

Last week he contacted the ODT expressing his concern the signatories were not prepared to make public a copy of the document, saying SNAP wants to use a copy as a template for its agreements.

Longhurst said he emailed Bishop Michael Dooley in July, but MSA replied declining to release the confidential document.

Longhurst again emailed Dooley in September asking him to "desist" from signing the confidential agreements, arguing that in the past secrecy had harmed victims.

Describing itself as New Zealand's recognised national organisation for male survivors of sexual violence, MSA says it supports more than 1500 survivors across the country and more than 40 in Dunedin.

MSA trustee Tony Chamberlain calls the requests "totally disrespectful and completely inappropriate".

"We consider the letter (email) a totally offensive affront to the integrity of all concerned", Chamberlain wrote to SNAP international chief executive, Zach Hiner.

Longhurst maintains the Diocese's approach is wrong, but stresses his opinion is not a personal attack on Dooley.

Longhurst is a survivor and lecturer at the Wellington based NZ Catholic Bishop's Catholic Institute.

"The issue is very clear. It's wrong for any peer support group to get into confidential agreements with the Catholic Church - absolutely wrong", Longhurst told the ODT.

However MSA Chairman, Philip Chapman defended the agreement and Dooley.

He says the existence of the agreement is not confidential and that Dooley had been totally supportive and clearly concerned for survivors.

Chapman acknowledged the modest financial contribution from the Church.

He said the funding was invested directly in the support services for the referred survivors.

Contacted in Rome, Dooley indicated his happiness with the document.

"This is an agreement between our two organisations with the good of survivors the priority", he told the ODT.

At the time he started SNAP NZ, Longhurst told CathNews that all it takes to heal is a little support.

"None of our members are experts. We're just survivors helping survivors", he said.

Sources

• ODT
• CathNews
• Image: TCI

The deal's critics, including abuse survivors, say it unduly provides protections and privileges to the Church.

The agreement was signed on Tuesday by the national prosecutor, Jorge Abbott, and the secretary general of the Chilean bishops' conference, Bishop Fernando Ramos, who's one of ten bishops called to testify facing allegations of having covered up cases of abuse. Read more