Aotearoa-New Zealand

SNAP AOTEROA NEW ZEALAND LETTER TO POPE FRANCIS – 2 SEPTEMBER 2022

A Sua Santità Francesco
Casa Santa Marta
00120 Città del Vaticano

Santità,

Un caloroso saluto da Aotearoa Nuova Zelanda.

È con una richiesta urgente che noi, Suoi sopravvissuti agli abusi sessuali su minori da parte di preti e religiosi nella Sua Chiesa ad Aotearoa, in Nuova Zelanda, scriviamo, chiedendo la sua attenzione personale, la sua risposta e il suo intervento.

Purtroppo, siamo danneggiati proprio dall’ufficio della Chiesa Cattolica istituito per fornire la guarigione, l’Ufficio nazionale della Chiesa Neozelandese per gli standard professionali (NOPS), incaricato di amministrare il processo di riparazione Te Houhanga Rongo – A Path To Healing (APTH), in risposta alle denunce di abuso.

Purtroppo, da qualche tempo i funzionari del NOPS violano i principi e le procedure stesse dell’APTH nella gestione dei casi di denuncia. In un caso, la direttrice del NOPS ha persino falsificato il rapporto di revisione di un investigatore indipendente. Di conseguenza, ai sopravvissuti agli abusi non solo viene negata la risposta compassionevole ed equa promessa, ma essi stessi vengono nuovamente traumatizzati dallo stesso ufficio incaricato di fornire un percorso di guarigione.

Ci rivolgiamo a Lei perché pur avendo portato questi fatti all’attenzione delle autorità ecclesiastiche locali già nel novembre 2019, al cardinale John Dew, metropolita della Nuova Zelanda e al suo Nunzio Apostolico in Nuova Zelanda, Novatus Rugambwa, pur avendo fornito chiari esempi delle violazioni dei principi e delle procedure APTH con prove concrete, e scritto anche alla Conferenza Episcopale della Nuova Zelanda, tuttavia, siamo stati sostanzialmente ignorati da un processo che utilizza tattiche come rinvii, negazione e copertura con il pretesto del diritto alla privacy.

Di conseguenza, i fedeli cattolici neozelandesi stanno vivendo un processo ipocrita di “riparazione” da parte della Chiesa cattolica in Nuova Zelanda. Da un lato, pubblicamente, i vertici della Chiesa locale tendono una “mano aperta alla speranza di guarigione,” dall’altro, a porte chiuse, traumatizzano una seconda volta vittime e sopravvissuti violando le proprie politiche e procedure.

Pertanto, vengono arrecati ulteriori danni alle persone povere e più vulnerabili che hanno cercato la guarigione, tuttavia, meriterebbero più considerazione!

Data la mancanza di un percorso di guarigione autentico e onesto nella Chiesa cattolica della Nuova Zelanda, vorremmo chiedere l’intervento di Sua Santità.

Potrebbe, Santo Padre, dare istruzione alla Conferenza episcopale neozelandese e alla Conferenza dei leader religiosi di Aotearoa, in Nuova Zelanda, di avviare una revisione urgente, indipendente e trasparente di NOPS e APTH senza ulteriori scuse o pretesti?

Vittime e sopravvissuti agli abusi del clero e dei religiosi nella Chiesa cattolica della Nuova Zelanda vengono feriti e nuovamente traumatizzati dai vertici della Sua Chiesa.

Ci auguriamo che Sua Santità ascolti il nostro appello e che ci aiuti.

Distinti saluti,
SNAP Aotearoa, pp

Dott. Christopher LONGHURST, S.T.D.
Direttore di SNAP Aotearoa New Zealand
– for SNAP Aotearoa Trust Board
& Executive Leadership Group

Wellington, 2 settembre 2022

TRADUZIONE INGLESE / ENGLISH TRANSLATION

Your Holiness,

Warm greetings from Aotearoa New Zealand.

It is with an urgent request that we your survivors of clerical and religious child sexual abuse in your Church in Aotearoa New Zealand, write seeking your personal attention, response, and intervention.

Most sadly, we are being harmed by the very Church office set up to provide healing, the Church’s National Office for Profession Standards (NOPS), tasked with administering Te Houhanga Rongo – A Path To Healing (APTH), redress process in response to abuse complaints.

Sadly, for some time now, NOPS officials have been breaching APTH’s very principles and procedures in managing complaints cases. In one case, the NOPS director even falsified the review report of an independent investigator. Consequently, abuse survivors are not only being denied the promised compassionate and fair response, but also retraumatized by the very office set up to provide a path to healing.

We are reaching out to you because we brought this matter to the attention of local church authorities as early as November 2019, to John Cardinal Dew, Metropolitan of New Zealand and to your Apostolic Nuncio to New Zealand, Novatus Rugambwa, while having provided clear examples of breaches of APTH principles and procedures with concrete evidence, and also written to the New Zealand Episcopal Conference. However, we have basically been ignored by a process using such tactics as delay, denial and cover up under privacy privilege.

In the effect, the New Zealand Catholic faithful are experiencing a two-faced Catholic Church “redress” process in New Zealand. On the one hand, publicly, the leaders of the local Church extend an ‘open hand to the hope of healing,’ on the other, behind closed doors, they traumatize victims and survivors a second time by violating their own policies and procedures.

Consequently, further harm is being caused to the poor and vulnerable people who reached out for healing. However, they deserve more consideration!

Given the lack of an authentic and honest path to healing in New Zealand’s Catholic Church, we would like to ask for Your Holiness to intervene.

Holy Father, would you instruct the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference and Congregational Leaders Conference of Aotearoa New Zealand to initiate an urgent, independent and transparent review of NOPS and APTH without further excuse or pretext?

Victims and survivors of clerical and religious abuse in New Zealand’s Catholic Church are being hurt and retraumatised by your Church’s leaders.

We hope Your Holiness will hear our appeal and help us.

Yours faithfully,

SNAP Aotearoa, pp

SECOND LETTER FROM SNAP AOTEAROA TO NEW ZEALAND CATHOLIC BISHOPS CONFERENCE

Wellington, 29 August 2022

His Eminence John Cardinal Dew, D.D.
President of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference
New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference
22-30 Hill Street, Thorndon, Wellington 6011
PO Box 1937, Wellington 6140
New Zealand

Via email: Cardinal John Dew: [email protected]

Your Eminence,

On behalf of SNAP Aotearoa, thank you very much for recognising our letter of 10 August 2022.

However, at our SNAP meeting last Friday, we noted that the issue we brought to your attention, for which we sought your action, was overlooked.

In our letter we requested the NZCBC to help stop the abused and suffering members of the Catholic Church in New Zealand from being further harmed by NOPS’s breaches of APTH. We requested “immediate action to establish an urgent, independent, and transparent review of the administration and handling of APTH complaints by NOPS.” It was for this reason that we contacted you.

As you know, survivors are getting hurt by NOPS, and to know that they are getting hurt and ignore their cries for help is a sin (James 4:17).

Therefore, is there anything we can do to assist you take the necessary action to help them? We would like to help, for instance, if you require us to prepare a brief for you to audit NOPS to ascertain whether NOPS has complied with its prescribed requirements.

Another option raised at our meeting was to commence proceedings in a New Zealand court against NOPS for breach of its charter and for causing intentional harm to vulnerable New Zealand citizens sexually abused by Catholic priests and religious was mentioned. However, we are aware of the raft of barriers to such an option. But it is now on the table.

Another option was to ask the Holy Father to encourage New Zealand’s Catholic Church leaders to provide the good they promised in APTH, “not in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18).

Meanwhile, we trust that the Catholic bishops of New Zealand appreciate the healing ministry SNAP is providing church members sexually abused by Catholic clergy and religious across the country and abroad. We have been very active recently helping more victims and survivors of abuse who have contacted us after the STUFF series on Marist abuse aired. Please know that we are most happy to continue this ministry of healing support.

Could you let us know please, urgently, how together we can stop the harm being caused by NOPS’s breaches of APTH?

We hope for your helpful response, with action.

Yours faithfully / Nāku, nā

SNAP Aotearoa, pp

Dr Christopher Longhurst, S.T.D.
National Leader of SNAP Aotearoa New Zealand
– for SNAP Aotearoa Trust Board & Executive Leadership Group

c.c. SNAP Aotearoa Trust Board and Executive Leadership Group (9)
New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference Secretariat
Aotearoa Catholic Te Rōpū Tautoko
New Zealand Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care

LETTER FROM SNAP AOTEAROA TO NEW ZEALAND CATHOLIC BISHOPS CONFERENCE

Wellington, 10 August 2022

His Eminence John Cardinal Dew, D.D.
President of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference
New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference
22-30 Hill Street, Thorndon, Wellington 6011
PO Box 1937, Wellington 6140
New Zealand

Via email: Cardinal John Dew: [email protected]

Your Eminence, e te rangatira, tēnā koe!

We hope this letter finds you well.

In November 2019, members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) in Aotearoa New Zealand, brought to your personal attention their concerns about the perceived mishandling of abuse complaints under the Te Houhanga Rongo – A Path To Healing (APTH) redress scheme, and their allegations of abuse of the APTH process.

Following your advice, in May 2020, SNAP Aotearoa then lodged a formal complaint with Philip Hamlin (Principal of Hamlin Law and Chairperson of the National Safeguarding & Professional Standards Committee) against Virginia Noonan, Director of the National Office for Professional Standards (NOPS) for alleged failure to follow APTH principles and procedures. In July 2020, Archbishop Novatus Rugambwa of the Apostolic Nunciature in New Zealand was notified of the same.

Regrettably, there has been no effective or meaningful response. It is our view that this issue was simply dismissed and buried under cover of confidentiality and privacy privilege.

As a consequence, all clerical and religious sexual abuse survivors of our network who have reached out to NOPS have been left without a compassionate and fair response to their reported traumas as promised by APTH and the Holy Father Pope Francis himself. Therefore, despite APTH, there has been no legitimate healing process for such survivors in the New Zealand Catholic Church.

You may recall that SNAP, and others, reported at the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care’s Phase 2 Redress Hearing, March 2021, how poorly and harshly they felt to have been treated under APTH. They reported APTH to be a judicial process based on the balance of probabilities solely for the purpose of “weeding” out offenders in the local Catholic Church. They also reported to have been distressed and re-traumatised by NOPS, the very office set up by the Catholic Church in New Zealand to provide healing.

Further, the Royal Commission’s Interim Report, December 2021, also noted several deficiencies in the administration of APTH. However, there was no subsequent sign of any intention by Church leaders to meliorate this situation.

It is therefore apparent that NOPS and the safeguarding procedures instituted by the New Zealand Catholic Church are not properly functioning; that the administration of APTH is not focused on the healing needs of survivor members of the Catholic Church; that APTH has been distorted, and a prejudicial APTH administration is inflicting further trauma and suffering on the most vulnerable in need of support, to have any hope of healing their lives.

Further harm has been experienced by abuse survivors in the New Zealand Catholic Church who now see no light shining through the multi-layered Church-based hierarchy of committees overlaying APTH, to assure them of any improvement to this unacceptable situation.

We therefore believe that a full restructuring of the Church’s stated ‘culture of safeguarding’ in New Zealand is required to properly respond to survivor complaints and achieve a genuine path to healing – healing for survivors and also for the Church itself, and to heal the faithful who rely so fully upon it.

ACTION REQUEST

The SNAP Board and Executive Leadership Group is now asking the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference to take immediate action to establish an urgent, independent, and transparent review of the administration and handling of APTH complaints by NOPS, in consultation and collaboration with SNAP Aotearoa and our survivor members.

We also believe that this matter needs to be brought to the attention of Pope Francis and to the New Zealand public, so that they will know how survivors in New Zealand’s Catholic Church are being so utterly failed by that very Church in the provision of any meaningful and safe path to their healing.

We hope for your prompt response.

Yours faithfully / Nāku, nā

SNAP Aotearoa, pp

Dr Christopher Longhurst, S.T.D.
National Leader of SNAP Aotearoa New Zealand
– for SNAP Aotearoa Trust Board & Executive Leadership Group

c.c. SNAP Aotearoa Trust Board and Executive Leadership Group (9)
New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference Secretariat
Aotearoa Catholic Te Rōpū Tautoko
New Zealand Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Ca

CATHOLIC CHURCH’S REDRESS NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE

Press Release: SNAP Aotearoa New Zealand, 12 August 2022

A sexual abuse survivor group SNAP says the Government’s decision to allow faith-based institutions like the Catholic Church to continue providing redress to survivors would just re-traumatise Catholic Church survivors.

SNAP’s national leader, Christopher Longhurst, says SNAP believes the Church office tasked with providing redress to church survivors has not followed its own principles and procedures in the Church’s protocol “A Path To Healing” to settle sexual abuse cases.

Dr Longhurst says the Church’s National Office For Professional Standards (NOPS) appears to be using the protocol to weed out offenders rather than providing a compassionate and fair response to their reported traumas as promised in the protocol.

Dr Longhurst says survivors have complained to SNAP that their redress cases have been mishandled by the NOPS office and many have felt re-traumatised by the Church’s redress process.

“The SNAP Board and Executive Leadership Group is now asking the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference to take immediate action to establish an urgent, independent, and transparent review of the administration and handling of APTH complaints by NOPS, in consultation and collaboration with SNAP Aotearoa and our survivor members.”

“This is now urgent following the Government’s announcement that faith-based institutions like the Catholic Church will be precluded from early and urgent compensation payments for elderly, infirm and very ill abuse survivors.”

“It’s questionable whether the Government’s redress scheme will be implemented even before the next election as Minister Chris Hipkins says it will take time and is a complex task and that the Government will consult with survivor groups in 2023 before making final decisions.”

“The mistreatment of survivors by the Catholic Church was signalled by the Royal Commission’s Interim Report, December 2021. It also noted several deficiencies in the administration of the Church’s redress protocol. However, there was no subsequent sign of any intention by Church leaders to review this situation in collaboration with survivors.”

“It is not just SNAP complaining!”

Dr Longhurst says SNAP has written to the committee that oversees NOPS and to the New Zealand Catholic Bishops with its deep misgivings about the Church’s redress office but has not received any real assurance its concerns will be fully reviewed.

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests in Aotearoa New Zealand.

SNAP New Zealand leader Christopher Longhurst calls out Christians for failing to speak out against abuse.

“Instances of child sexual abuse by clergy are times to speak up, otherwise Christians will eventually be held to account for failing to do so.”

https://hail.to/laidlaw-college/publication/dVgMOTX/article/omXGIoT (Stimulus, Jul 26, 2021)

Catholic Church abuse: Only a fraction of victims coming forward, survivor group says https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/catholic-church-abuse-only-a-fraction-of-victims-coming-forward-survivor-group-says/BSW6QINHJ2GXFO6D5C62IPW7OU/

Survivors of abuse in care of the Catholic Church say their voices matter https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/433489/survivors-of-abuse-in-care-of-the-catholic-church-say-their-voices-matter

The first Loud Fence in the world created by SNAP @ Napier, New Zealand: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/napier-church-fence-tied-with-ribbons-to-raise-awareness-of-child-sexual-abuse/VPXCFEBH3JA5ZTYIVQ75ER22SU/

I just wanted to say thank you to SNAP. I’m writing my story about abuse in the Catholic Church. I’m very grateful that SNAP is out there. Been following SNAP for years. Most grateful for the work SNAP does.

Hi everyone,
A huge thank you to all you good people there in SNAP Aotearoa for the good work you are doing.
A big thank you to Chris Longhurst for taking on the leadership role for us.
I was once told that the victims of sexual clerical abuse who refuse to abandon their faith and continue to fight are god’s true heroes.

“When someone opens up about childhood sexual abuse, they aren’t looking for sympathy or expecting you to ’fix them; — they just want someone to listen and be there.” https://www.facebook.com/SpeakUpAllSurvivorsMatter/

Kia ora tātou – HI everyone

SPEAKING SECRETS tells the story of the global #MeToo movement in Aotearoa New Zealand, through the eyes of survivors of sexual harassment and abuse.

EPISODE 5 deals with a former Catholic schoolboy who speaks publicly for the first time about his allegations that Marist Brothers sexually abused him at school.

To listen to the podcast from this episode, visit https://www.spreaker.com/user/nzme/for-broadcast-speaking-secrets-episode-5

You can listen to all six episodes of the Herald-Newstalk ZB co-production here. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12083530

Producer and host: Georgina Campbell
Audio editor: James Irwin
Sound and video production: Mark Mitchell
Executive producer: Frances Cook
Editor: Andrew Laxon

In light of Cardinal Pell being set free, SNAP in Aotearoa New Zealand stands united in support of our brothers and sisters in Australia wounded by the inability of our legal systems to hold serial child rapists accountable, placing the external significances of the law over and above the fundamental importance of doing the right thing!

News from SNAP “down-under” in Aotearoa New Zealand

SNAP has been in Aotearoa New Zealand now for the past eight months. Many people in Aotearoa New Zealand still do not know about SNAP or the service we provide the local community because we are still new to the Aotearoa victims and survivors scene. But the need for our work here is evident and we have made a significant impact already.

Sadly, there are many victims and survivors of faith-based sexual abuse throughout New Zealand. Our main work here in Aotearoa New Zealand is to provide peer-support for survivors of clerical sexual abuse, especially in the waxing of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse as more victims and survivors find the courage to come forward and tell their stories.

As the Royal Commission digs deeper into the historical abuse that has plagued our nation, safe places are needed for victims and survivors to feel protected, supported and truly heard. SNAP NZ offers one of those places.
Most of our peer-support work has been concentrated around the capital region, Wellington, where peer-support meetings are held fortnightly. This work is expanding to regional centres.

Our other peer support work involves conversations on the SNAP phoneline talking with people who call in for support, giving guidance, and a listening ear to those who want to tell their stories.

What has been interesting here in Aotearoa New Zealand is the number of parents of victims and survivors who have contacted us. As their children find the courage to disclose to them for the first time, the parents are in a quandary as to how to adequately respond. SNAP has some excellent resources for parents and family members of victims and survivors.

Our mission is to support victims and survivors of abuse and our kaupapa is to put victims and survivors first. I try to steer away from an organization focus so as to realise that we are one of many good networks sharing the noble mission. Thus our mantra here at SNAP NZ is “Put survivors firsts.”

One of our highlights over the past eight months was our presence and input at the annual symposium held by the “Wellington Theological Consortium” last September. The theme was Lament, Listening and Healing In Response to the Sexual Abuse Crisis in Our Church Communities. Professor Chris Marshall, Diana Unwin Chair in Restorative Justice at Victoria University’s School of Government spoke on how to carry out the Circle Process at peer-support meetings. He also gave an excellent introduction to the concept of restorative justice.

Dr Rocío Figueroa Alvea, abuse survivor and Auckland based theologian spoke on “Overcoming Silence – Women’s Voices in the Catholic Abuse Crisis.” Rocio’s work in this field has made her a preeminent voice for women survivors worldwide. Her testament at the symposium spoke to the power of truth against those who seek to silence women survivors.

Rob McGregor, peer-support-worker spoke on how “Healing Starts with Listening.” He addressed the importance of allowing victims and survivors to tell their stories in ways that they are properly heard.

Marg Schrader, former sexual abuse counsellor and Presbyterium Moderator spoke on “The Effects of Clerical Sexual Abuse in Naming and Experiencing God.”

I gave a talk on some reactions to Pope Francis’ Vos Estis Lux Mundi, concluding that this document was only another attempt to prevent the damage caused by previous failures, while evading the changes needed to fix the causes.

It was a productive event at which our SNAP base in NZ grew significantly. Many significant contacts were made and some new friendships formed as participants shared their stories and leaned the skills to give and receive peer-support.

What is unusual about SNAP NZ is that some of our members are relatively young. This is unusual because often times it is not until later in life that victims and survivors of sexual abuse find the courage to take that brave step of telling their story and reaching out to others for support.

But SNAP NZ has some young members. I believe that we are changing the face of survivors by bringing awareness to all people that there is only dignity in being a survivor.

We are also very honoured to have the LBGTI community represented in our network.

I think that it is important for all survivors of sexual abuse to know that they have a most welcomed place in SNAP.

At SNAP NZ no individual who needs support in our community is excluded. This is why SNAP is a non-binary network. We welcome people from all backgrounds, ethnicities, genders, religions and philosophical outlooks. Even a seminarian, a cleric and a bishop who have survived sexual violence have reached out to SNAP NZ for support. They do so as survivors.

SNAP is an equalitarian non-binary support network for victims and survivors of sexual abuse in all faith-based situations.

Some of our members know that faith-based abuse is not only clerical sexual abuse. Survivors can also suffer at the hands of brothers, nuns or even lay employees. In addition, abuse in faith-based situations can also involve mental and emotional abuse, and physical violence as well. For example, to tell a transgender or gay person that they “have to change themselves in order to be saved from the hellfire” is a form of religious and faith-based abuse.

At SNAP NZ no one is excluded. All are welcome. There is no difference among survivors from SNAP’s viewpoint.

SNAP NZ is a grassroots peer-support network of survivors, by survivors, for survivors and their whanau.

SNAP Aotearoa is grateful to its supporters.

A special thanks to the counsellors who send their clients to us for peer-support. To heal victims and survivors is to heal society.

A special thanks to the other survivor groups that pick-up the survivors who contact us when we cannot always provide the hands-on support needed because our own limited resources are stretched.

A special thanks to Toi Pōneke Arts Centre and to the Wellington Philosophy School for hosting our peer support meetings in the capital.

A special thanks to the Archbishop of Wellington, John Cardinal Dew, for his support.

A special thanks to Tui Motu for advertising for us.

A special thanks to WelCom for advertising for us.

A special thanks to the organizers of the Mission Expo 2020 for giving SNAP booths at both the Porirua and Nelson events this month. We are looking forward to spreading our kaupapa and vision for a healed and safer society.

If you or your family and loved ones are hurting and want some support or information, contact SNAP NZ today.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SNAPNetwork/

Thanks for your attention.

Christopher Longhurst
National Leader of SNAP Aotearoa New Zealand
Wellington Aotearoa New Zealand

Thanks SNAP for all the great work you’re doing in New Zealand.

Most survivors, especially victims of child sexual abuse, never come forward. They lost their voice because they were silenced by their abusers and those who covered for them. Many are still affected by the abuse. It doesn’t just go away. I would like to be a voice for them, with them, and to others.

At SNAP Aotearoa-New Zealand, we know that sometimes all it takes to heal is a little support. We are determined to make an impact. The core of our efforts will be to bring together survivors of abuse by priests and religious across Aotearoa-New Zealand.