Palmerston North bishop John Adams is doubling down on a culture change in the Catholic Church and its efforts to make the Church safe. Adams had commented earlier in response to a letter to the editor published in the Manawatu Standard by Dr Christopher Longhurst, leader of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests Read more
All Catholic bishops in New Zealand must resign, says respected Catholic theologian Dr Christopher Longhurst. Longhurst’s comments, reported in the widely read publication La Croix International, are strongly critical of the very people from whom he receives his daily bread. New Zealand’s Catholic bishops employ him to teach at Te Kupenga Catholic Theological College. He Read more
Against a background of ongoing legal matters, Bishop Steve Lowe, the apostolic administrator of the Hamilton Diocese, is accused of not being pastoral enough in his response to a victim of clergy abuse. The Waikato Times reports a woman from within the Hamilton Catholic diocese saying that in a meeting with Lowe, she told him Read more
The Governor General will not break diplomatic ties with the Holy See, Government House says. SNAP – a group of clergy sex abuse survivors – in a recent letter to Dame Cindy Kiro called for the diplomatic ties to be cut. The group says Government House informed them “the Governor-General acts on the advice of Read more
SNAP – a group of clergy sex abuse survivors – is urging the Governor General to break diplomatic ties with the Holy See. In a King’s Birthday appeal, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) Aotearoa wrote an unsigned, open letter to Governor General Dame Cindy Kiro. The group, under leader Chris Longhurst Read more
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests – SNAP NZ – has written to Pope Francis urging him to instruct the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference to initiate an urgent, independent and transparent review of the National Office of Professional Standards and its principles and procedures document, A Path to Healing. SNAP’s unhappy letter to Read more
A child abuse survivors’ group has told Pope Francis the Catholic Church in New Zealand is mishandling the abuse redress process. They are being retraumatised during the process, Aotearoa-New Zealand’s chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) told Francis in a letter last week. SNAP, a global organisation, went on to accuse Read more
The Catholic Church’s group dealing with the Royal Commission into State and Faith-Based Care say it is studying a Cabinet paper released by Public Services Minister Chris Hipkins. Hipkins has plans to cut a 3000-strong waiting list of claimants of abuse in state care – such as children’s homes – by making “rapid payments”. Survivors Read more
SNAP Aotearoa New Zealand is calling for Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI to be prosecuted if evidence proves he obstructed clerical child abuse complaints when he was Archbishop of Munich and Freising. Christopher Longhurst, who coordinates Aotearoa New Zealand’s Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) was commenting on the likelihood of Benedict’s knowledge of Read more
Two survivor groups are at acrimonious odds over the Dunedin diocese’s commercial agreement for helping abuse survivors. 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 Read more