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Accusations of Abuse in Institutions

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The Press
October 19, 2002

Consedine sent for therapy
by Yvonne Martin

A high-profile Catholic father and justice campaigner, Jim Consedine, has stood down as Lyttelton parish priest amid allegations of sexual misconduct against women.

The former prison chaplain, champion of the underdog, and leading advocate of restorative justice, has left his parish of 17 years to undergo therapy.

Father Consedine is off to a programme in Sydney, Australia, which specialises in treating clergy for violation of professional boundaries, sexual disorders, and abuse.

Bishop of Christchurch John Cunneen is sending Father Consedine for treatment after receiving complaints from four women of inappropriate sexual behaviour dating as far back as the early 1970s.

Last week during a mediation, Father Consedine apologised to one complainant, a Shirley mother who claims he touched her inappropriately, including fondling her bottom last November.

Bishop Cunneen told St Joseph's parishioners in a statement last weekend that he had discussed "certain historical allegations" with Father Consedine, who accepted he needed counselling.

"He is taking time out to seek this help and will not be returning to parish ministry in the meantime," Bishop Cunneen said.

The Press
made numerous attempts to contact Father Consedine but his brother, Robert Consedine, indicated he would not be talking. The Consedine family said, in a statement, that it supported the open process the church had set up for dealing with allegations.

Three women complained to the bishop in August about alleged misconduct when Father Consedine was involved with the Young Christian Workers movement in the 1970s.

One complainant was a 19-year- old youth leader in 1973 when, she alleges, Father Consedine kissed her after hearing her confession during a weekend stay at a monastery.

"It was in a face-to-face confession situation," she said. "When I had finished talking to him, he kissed me on the lips, putting his tongue inside my mouth. I felt very uncomfortable but did not say anything and neither did he."

The woman, now 48, said the alleged misconduct continued after she moved into a home with other youth leaders. One day, walking through Hagley Park after a meeting, Father Consedine pushed her against a tree and rubbed provocatively against her body, she alleges.

"I was shocked and stunned. I was very much in awe of him and did not think I could challenge him. Jim was, and still is, a man of much personal power and prestige in the community."

She said Father Consedine would frequently enter her room after that, when she was alone, and repeat the scenario.

Another woman claims Father Consedine indecently touched her in 1978, when she was traumatised after leaving her husband, who had physically assaulted her.

"I was pinned against the kitchen bench and had difficulty comprehending what actually was happening to me," she said.

"He left immediately after this occurred and in no way acknowledged what he had just done to me. I simply felt assaulted all over again and was in no state to confront his behaviour. He was Father Jim."

The professional standards committee, which investigates abuse complaints for the Catholic Church, recommended that Father Consedine stop practising and undergo treatment.

A support network that formed for Father Consedine told the committee that he wanted to apologise for "harm done to some women" and was open to a restorative justice process. The three women, who say they had already tried talking to Father Consedine, opted not to go to a formal mediation with him.

In a three-hour mediation last week for the fourth complainant, the Shirley mother claimed that Father Consedine made sexual comments to her and her daughter, and groped the mother's backside when hugging.

Father Consedine apologised to the mother "for any hurt he may have inflicted", which she accepted.

The mother met Father Consedine as a chaplain at Christchurch Women's prison when she was an inmate in 1987.

Father Consedine often took in broken and lonely people with nowhere else to go, sometimes at great cost to himself when they pilfered money from him. Only this week the Christchurch District Court heard how a former inmate in Father Consedine's care stole $13,000 from his bank account.

The Shirley mother also took up the offer of a bed when she left prison in 1988. But she claims Father Consedine soon began acting over-familiarly -- making lewd suggestions, with odd touching, rubbing, and hugging that put her on edge. "Just too close, too tight, too long," she said.

The mother wrote to Father Consedine admonishing his behaviour and sent a complaint of sexual harassment to Bishop Cunneen in 1997. Last July -- nearly five years later and 10 days after she met members of the professional standards committee -- she received a written apology from the bishop for failing to acknowledge her concerns.

Bishop Cunneen said he had spoken to Father Consedine about acceptable boundaries in dealing with women after receiving her letter, but had not informed her of his action.

The other women say they delayed complaining until they felt the church hierarchy was ready to accept it. In June 1984 an anonymous leaflet that circulated, alleging sexual misconduct by Father Consedine, resulted in then Bishop Brian Ashby taking legal action in a bid to track down the "perpetrators" who wrote it.

Bishop Cunneen has said that the safety of the community is his priority and the church would do everything possible to ensure it.

"Naturally I am deeply saddened to learn of these allegations and I hope that the course of action that has been taken will go some way towards alleviating the distress that has been caused," he said.

The programme Father Consedine will attend, Encompass Australasia, was set up by the Australian church in 1997.

Most of the complainants initially supported the move, but now want him treated by a local agency such as the STOP programme.

"At the STOP programme he would not be given any special priestly status and he would be treated alongside a cross-section of the community," the women wrote to the committee last month.

Father Consedine, born and raised in Addington, Christchurch, has written books on restorative justice and been a marriage celebrant for more than 30 years. He resigned his prison chaplaincy in February after 23 years.

Friend and fellow prison reformer Kathy Dunstall said Father Consedine successfully exposed shocking conditions at Addington Prison and freed countless debtors from jail, leading to a law change.

"I have absolutely no doubt that as the leading advocate for restorative justice in New Zealand, Jim will have tried to meet with these women, address their complaints, and apologise for any distress he has caused. This is what he stands for and what he lives by."

* Yesterday the Catholic bishops of New Zealand released another statement, following their pastoral letter in June, reiterating the church's response to sex abuse within its ranks.

"We are endeavouring to discover the extent of offending that has taken place over the years within the whole church community, and the effectiveness or otherwise of responses to complaints," said the bishops.

They repeated earlier assurances they would confront the problem with openness and transparency.