Churches in New Zealand at the centre of historical abuse claims are being given their chance to respond to evidence from abuse survivors.
Photo:
The Abuse in Care Royal Commission is holding a two-week public hearing which starts today in Auckland.
It is the second part of the faith-based redress hearing and follows on from late 2020 when survivors shared their personal experiences of being abused.
Leaders from the Salvation Army, Anglican Church and Catholic Church, including a number of bishops and archbishops will give evidence on how their church has dealt with claims of abuse and earlier evidence from survivors.
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) describes the hearing as a wonderful opportunity for churches to take ownership of the truth.
Spokesperson Christopher Longhurst said he hopes the commission will robustly cross examine the witnesses and not just take their word at face value without supporting evidence on how they have handled the issue of abuse.
''We hope that for example in assessing church protocols and church documents submitted to the hearing that the commission looks for signs of concrete action has taken place. For the application of what has been promised because we know from our experience that what the churches are promising, has promised, has not been delivered.''
He said survivors have experienced very little action from the churches in the past and this must change.
''Despite what the church are saying about listening to us and being compassionate, constantly time and time again members of our network have evidence to show the contrary, so we simply hope the Royal Commission will not take what these witnesses will present at face value.''
Another survivors group, the network of survivors of abuse in faith-based institutions, is hoping churches come to the hearing with a change from their usual defensive approach.
Spokesperson Liz Tonks said churches cannot continue to deny what has happened.
''It's irrefutable now. They say they are listening, they say they are learning. We think there is enough evidence that suggests they should have learnt by now.''
Tonks said victim survivors were not hopeful because their experiences of churches is they have not been able to trust them in the past.
''They've known for a long time, they have never taken action. Survivors have been negotiating with them and telling them they need redress for decades and decades and they know the age of some of the survivors and they are likely to die without it if it's not given to them, so they have had plenty of chance to stand up and take action."
Tonks said they feared the churches would continue to take the same approach and provide reasons why it happened and try and absolve themselves.
Frances Tagaloa was abused by a Marist brother between the ages of five and seven.
She wanted a change in attitude from the churches, but was not confident it would happen.
''Churches naturally protect themselves and their reputation, their liability and their own clerics above helping survivors of abuse."
''I think that will become clear, but it will be interesting to me to see whether the churches have heard what survivors have said, you know that their redress processes are inadequate.''
Tagaloa also hoped the churches support a universal call from survivors for an independent body to deal with all claims of state and faith based abuse and deal with compensation.
The Redress hearings will help the Royal Commission to form its recommendations to the government.
The commission has committed to publishing its findings on redress by the end of 2021, two years ahead of schedule.