New Zealand report shows 200,000 people abused over decades, including in Catholic Church

(OSV News) -- An estimated 200,000 children and vulnerable adults in the care of state and faith-based institutions were abused or neglected between 1950 and 2019, according to the report on an independent inquiry by the New Zealand Royal Commission.

The report, which was released July 24, stated that the total number of those abused -- many of whom belonged to the Indigenous Maori people -- "may be higher than this estimate" due to poor record keeping and that the abuse and neglect of hundreds of thousands of children, young people, and adults was "a national disgrace."

"These gross violations occurred at the same time as Aotearoa New Zealand was promoting itself, internationally and domestically, as a bastion of human rights and as a safe, fair country in which to grow up as a child in a loving family," the report's executive summary stated.

"If this injustice is not addressed, it will remain as a stain on our national character forever," it said.

Titled "Whanaketia," a Maori phrase chosen by survivors meaning "through pain and trauma, a journey from darkness to light," the independent inquiry also looked into abuse within the Catholic Church and its institutions between 1950 and 1999. It also investigated alleged abuses in the Anglican, Methodist and Presbyterian churches, the Gloriavale Christian Community and the Salvation Army.

According to The Associated Press, hundreds of survivors and supporters gathered at the public gallery in the country's Parliament for the report's release. The inquiry report alleged that government officials were either "oblivious or indifferent" to the abuses that occurred both in state and faith-based institutions.

The report, which was conducted over a six-year period, stated that psychological, emotional, physical, medical, spiritual, and religious abuse, as well as solitary confinement and forced labor, were among the myriad of abuses suffered by children and vulnerable adults. 

The report stated the Catholic Church in New Zealand, as well as related Catholic entities, were at fault for several violations, including "inadequate responses to complaints of abuse and neglect," "appointing abusers to schools without effective protective methods in place," and "prioritizing the church's reputation over safety."

In its recommendations, the inquiry report said that religious leaders, including Pope Francis, "should make a public apology and acknowledgement for the abuse and neglect in the care of the Catholic Church in Aotearoa New Zealand."

It also called on Archbishop Paul Martin of Wellington to "write to the Pope and the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life" to express concerns "that brothers in the Hospitaller Order of the Brothers of St. John of God who have been accused or convicted of sexual abuse and neglect" in Australia and New Zealand were also sent to Papua New Guinea.

"Little is known about the nature and extent of abuse and neglect there or the needs of potential survivors," the report stated.

Many of the abuses, the inquiry found, occurred in several schools and orphanages in Christchurch that were run by the religious order between the mid-1950s and the early 1990s.

The report also recommended that Archbishop Martin request an apostolic visitation to look into "the nature and extent of abuse and neglect by the Order in Papua New Guinea and the systemic factors leading to abuse and neglect by the Order in the Oceania province."

In a video released along with the report, the heads of the independent inquiry team urged those reading the findings "to not look away" and said the report "signals an opportunity to create change in New Zealand's care system so that this can never be repeated."

"This report about the dark history of New Zealand is upsetting and difficult to read, but we owe it to the survivors who so bravely shared their accounts to confront what took place," said Coral Shaw, the chair of the Royal Commission into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions.

In a statement released shortly after the report's publication, the New Zealand Bishops' Conference said it would "ensure that action follows our review of the inquiry's findings."

The bishops' statement was signed by Bishop Steve Lowe of Auckland, president of the New Zealand bishops' conference, and Father Thomas Rouse, president of the Congregation Leaders Conference of Aotearoa New Zealand.

"There is work for the government to do and work to be undertaken by many other people," it said. "We understand that within the community, some of us -- including leaders in the Catholic Church -- have a special role to play to ensure that the findings and recommendations of this significant Inquiry are not lost or confined to words in a report. We commit to that role."

The inquiry, the bishops' conference said, as well as the stories from victims and survivors, made "crystal clear" that "abuse is not only historical, nor confined to one part of society or another."

"Over the past 30 years, the Catholic Church in Aotearoa New Zealand has made significant progress in responding to reports of abuse and safeguarding," the July 24 statement read. "We must continue to work to ensure that progress continues and that our church communities are places where people are safe."