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Accusations of Abuse in Institutions

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New Zealand Herald
June 29, 2002

Churches taking tough line with clergy who prey
by Catherine Masters and Eugene Bingham

The country's main religions say they have policies of zero tolerance towards sexual abusers within their midst.

The Anglicans, Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians say complaints of a criminal nature should be made to the police, and they would strongly urge complainants to do so.

They would also remove anyone found guilty of abuse from their ministry or any other position of authority, but most say they have had only a handful of sexual abuse cases since records began.

The Weekend Herald surveyed denominations following last week's revelations by the Catholic Church, which now also has a zero tolerance policy, that 38 men in its ranks had committed acts of sexual abuse since the 1950s.

A group of women survivors of clergy abuse, however, are pushing for an independent avenue for complaints within the church, such as an ombudsman for church affairs.

The inter-denominational Susannah group, formed in 1993 to support victims and lobby on their behalf, would also like to see a law banning sexual relationships between clergy and people under their pastoral care, to remove all doubt about the appropriateness of those relationships.

A Susannah spokeswoman, who did not want to be named, said the issue was about social justice, with victims and oppressors, but the reaction had been to protect the institution and clergy.

"There needs to be a sufficiently impartial place for people to go to, because people's faith has been rattled by the abuse and the complaints process," she said.

But religious orders say they now have strict protocols in place for dealing with complaints.

Auckland Anglican diocesan secretary Geoff Clark, on behalf of Bishop John Paterson, said if there was the slightest suggestion of a criminal offence, the complainant would be strongly encouraged to go to the police and that the church would also investigate.

All seven dioceses were bound by a protocol which could suspend offenders or remove them from the priesthood.

"It's definitely zero tolerance and we actually have posters up in prominent places in all the parishes saying sexual harassment and so on is a total no-no and we have a list of contact people with phone numbers [where] people can contact them in confidence to discuss things if they have got an issue."

Five of the dioceses revealed the number of complaints they have had in recent years.

In Auckland there had been six cases of inappropriate behaviour and harassment since 1992, but none involving paedophilia.

One case of sexual abuse of three young men dated back 15 years and another case recently came to light after 25 years.

The diocese had been asked to get involved with a case in Christchurch relating to the time a former priest spent in Auckland in the 1970s.

Another recent case involved the Anglican Trust for Women, and a man had been convicted.

Dunedin and Nelson dioceses said they had no cases and Waikato said that since formal procedures were established in 1996 there had been one case of sexual harassment.

Wellington had dealt with five cases of sexual misconduct by three clergy and two lay people since 1992. One case went back 20 years, but none of the cases had involved paedophilia.

Christchurch and Waiapu were still to respond.

Brian Winslade, national leader of the Baptist Church, could find no case of a Baptist minister being charged with paedophilia or sexual abuse.

"We would treat any accusation of inappropriate sexual conduct extremely seriously and would always investigate, always co-operate with the police and always seek to be as transparent as possible.

"We would have zero tolerance for any form of cover-up or trying to deal with this sort of thing in-house; that would be quite inappropriate in our opinion," he said.

David Smith, legal adviser to the Methodist Church, said there had been two cases of sexual abuse which had gone through the courts in recent years, and some cases of "inappropriate" behaviour.

A victim in one of the abuse cases told the Weekend Herald that she was generally satisfied with the way her complaint had been handled.

But Mr Smith said that, as a result of the sexual abuse cases, the church had reviewed its procedures, making them much more formal and legal.

"One of the major changes is the church will not deal with any such complaint now where it is clear there is a possibility a crime has been committed and the matter must go to the police for determination," he said.

The church had also created a formal tribunal to hear complaints once criminal matters had been dealt with.

"So a person can be charged with, say, sexual abuse, go through the courts, be found guilty and then still face church procedures in terms of whether they should remain as a member of the church or not."

If the criminal charge was dismissed they might still have to face charges in the church.

The Presbyterian Church says whenever the offending is of a criminal nature - including cases where minors are involved and allegations of, for example, rape - the police are called in.

Assembly executive secretary the Rev Dr Kerry Enright said records showed two criminal cases since 1996. One was for paedophilia and the offender was jailed. Dr Enright would not comment on the other, because it is before the court.

For the same period, 13 sexual harassment complaints had been lodged against 11 clergy and people in positions of power. These had been dealt with within the church.

Four people were suspended from their positions, one received an employment warning, two charges against one person were being processed, three complaints were resolved by mediation, one was dismissed and one was withdrawn.

The church "absolutely" had a policy of zero tolerance and if a complainant came to it with a criminal allegation they would attempt to talk the person into going to the police.

"It is written down that is the approach we take."