New Zealand Royal Commission: 26 abuse reports naming nine Society of Mary members at one Catholic college, and the Church's acknowledgement over Marylands School

Proceedings

1. 2024-07-24 · final report presented to Parliament

   Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care (Aotearoa New Zealand). The Inquiry recorded that the Catholic Church has acknowledged harm at Catholic educational institutions including St Patrick's College Silverstream, Upper Hutt, 'which had 26 reports of alleged abuse relating to nine Society of Mary members at the college between 1951 and 1985' (¶703). The Church also acknowledged the harm caused to those in the care of Marylands School and the Hebron Trust in Christchurch — many of the boys at Marylands were disabled or had learning or behavioural needs, those at Hebron were often 'street kids', and many were tamariki and rangatahi Māori — recognising that these survivors 'were and are still the most vulnerable' and stating: 'If you needed to be cared for, then you should have been safe in the care of the church. The fact that you were not safe and you were harmed is indefensible and a shame on all the church' (¶702). Sister Sue France, for the Sisters of Mercy New Zealand, told the Inquiry the majority of reports made to the congregation related to physical or psychological abuse by religious sisters in children's homes or orphanages, and conceded that 'because of mistakes made by the Church and by our Congregation… children were harmed when tragically this could have and should have been avoided' (¶705). On mechanism, the Inquiry found clericalism 'can result from Church teachings such as the understanding that priests undergo an "ontological change" at ordination, making them different or set apart from others and permanently a priest' (¶609), and recorded survivor Rūpene Amato's evidence that a priest at St Joseph's School, Wairoa 'used one-on-one meetings in his home under the guise of "sex education" to sexually abuse him and many of his classmates' (¶650).

Documented coercion mechanisms

• clericalism arising from the teaching that priests undergo an 'ontological change' at ordination, setting them apart from others
• one-on-one meetings held under the guise of 'sex education'
• placement of disabled boys and 'street kids' in the care of a church presumed trustworthy