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Accusations of Abuse in Institutions

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The Dominion
June 28, 2002

Bishops to send letter concerning sex abuse
NZPA

New Zealand's Catholic bishops are responding to mounting revelations of sexual abuse within their clergy with a formal letter on the subject to go to Catholics this weekend.

The Bishop of Christchurch, John Cunneen, said he and his colleagues wanted to "speak to our people in the light of what we have come to know especially in the last few weeks" about sexual offending by Catholic priests and brothers. The content of the letter will be made public once it has been sent to all New Zealand parishes.

Bishops' letters are a forum used occasionally by the church hierarchy to comment on significant issues confronting the wider church. It will be the first on the abuse issue in New Zealand and follows other attempts by the church to be more open about the problem of sex offending in the clergy.

The church said last weekend that it had substantiated 38 sexual abuse complaints during the past decade, though the cases alleged offending dated back to the 1950s. The church in other countries -- particularly the United States and Australia -- has been rocked by sex abuse scandals.

The St John of God Order, which is embroiled in the latest sex scandal, has set up a toll-free hotline for people who have queries or want to report alleged incidents of abuse.

Four brothers who worked at the order's former Marylands residential school in Christchurch have had allegations made against them. The order has so far paid out $300,000 to five New Zealand complainants, who claimed they were abused in the 1960s and 1970s.