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The Dominion Post
July 8, 2002
More complaints to abuse hotline
A
Catholic order rocked by sex abuse allegations in New Zealand has received six
fresh abuse complaints against its members since it set up a hotline for victims
just over a week ago.
Society of Mary New Zealand deputy head, Father Tim Duckworth said yesterday
that the new complaints came from seven callers but they would not be easy to
investigate as all but one of the alleged perpetrators were now dead.
The only living person complainants had named was retired and no longer
practising ministry. None of the complaints related to incidents after 1990 and
one dated back almost to the turn of last century, he said.
However, the order would still investigate all seven complaints and all
relevant information would be passed on to the complainants.
"There are a lot of questions in people's minds. A lot of these people
want more details about a member of our order for their own peace of mind. I'm
sure we can help these people in some way."
He said all complainants were encouraged to contact the police.
The Society of Mary came under the spotlight recently after several
The order admitted having knowledge of Woodcock's offending for several years
before barring him from practising ministry.
Upper Hutt police are considering whether to seek Woodcock's extradition from
Father Duckworth said 137 calls had been received since late Friday, some
involving Woodcock.
Thirty five of the calls related to other Catholic or religious orders and had
been forwarded to them for investigation.
Meanwhile, Catholic Church spokeswoman Lyndsay Freer
said yesterday that a new centralised Catholic hotline set up on Thursday had
received about 20 calls in its first two days.
The aim of the new line was to help put people in touch with the right Catholic
order.