www.peterellis.co.nz
: seeking justice for Peter Ellis : mail to: [email protected]
Accusations of Abuse in
Institutions
Index: Home Page Peter Ellis
Index: Accusations in Institutions
The Press
July 18, 2002
Nuns' order in secret payouts
by Yvonne Martin
A
group of 14 women who were beaten as girls at a Christchurch orphanage have
been secretly paid out by a Catholic order of nuns.
The Sisters of the Good Shepherd have paid out undisclosed sums of money and
given written apologies to the women acknowledging physical abuse at
Although 14 took part in a mediated settlement in December -- 11 of them from
Several women approached by The Press
said confidentiality clauses prevented
them from talking about their settlements.
It comes at a time when other Catholic orders facing abuse allegations,
including the St John of God Order which ran
Critics of secret agreements have argued that the Catholic Church has
effectively paid hush money to bury potential scandals. Clinical psychologist
Martin Visser has said confidentiality clauses
imprisoned victims in codes of silence and made healing difficult.
The sisters' cruel punishment of girls at the orphanage was the subject of a
television documentary five years ago. One woman spoke of being deliberately
burnt on the arm by a sister in the laundry when she was seven.
Others described being put in solitary confinement for up to 48 hours and being
virtual slaves -- having to pick potatoes, clean pigsties, iron, and clean the
orphanage.
Victims said bed-wetting was an offence that brought heavy punishment. The offender was forced to "parade" at breakfast with their
soiled sheets wrapped around their necks, and were dunked by older girls
in the deep end of a swimming pool.
Most of the girls were not orphans, but wards of the State or from families who
could not cope with them in hard economic times. It was common for several
children from the same family to end up in the nuns' care.
The Good Shepherd sisters released a statement at the time the allegations were
first raised, saying that the orphanage nuns were "over-zealous and
misguided". Hundreds of children went into the care of a handful of nuns
which was now considered "unreasonable".
The leader of the dwindling order in
"Matters such as these are private between individuals and the sisters and
it is inappropriate for the sisters to make any comment," she said.
"I have nothing further to add to that."
All the nuns involved in the orphanage allegations are now dead. The order has
only three nuns left doing community work in
The order set up a freephone to help victims contact
the nuns in mid-1997. In November that year about 60 women, who had spent time
in the orphanage, met for their first reunion to discuss their childhood
ordeals.
The Good Shepherd sisters were originally established in