New Zealand Catholic Abuse Survivors Appeal to Pope
Media Release 13/09/2022
For immediate use
New Zealand Catholic Abuse Survivors Appeal to Pope
New Zealand nationwide
Survivors of sexual abuse by clergy and religious of the Catholic Church in Aotearoa New Zealand have appealed directly to Pope Francis to help initiate an ‘urgent, independent and transparent review’ of the administration of the Church’s in-house national redress scheme.
This follows a failed appeal to the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference and the New Zealand Government’s exclusion of faith-based survivors from early compensation pay-outs. The Government wants faith-based institutions to continue with their own redress schemes.
However, abuse survivor and spokesperson for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) in Aotearoa, Dr Christopher Longhurst, said victims and survivors in New Zealand were not being treated justly under the Catholic Church’s redress scheme.
Longhurst clarified that survivors were calling for a review of the Church’s handling of abuse complaints for reasons of an apparent lack of integrity and competence. He emphasised that the issue was ‘the repeated maladministration of complaints by church officials and the hierarchy’s failure to do anything about it.’ (Attached copy of letter to Pope Francis and translation, also available at link below).
Contact Dr Christopher Longhurst Phone New Zealand 0223440496
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests in Aotearoa New Zealand. Web http://www.snapnetwork.org/ | Email [email protected]
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