Snap New Zealand’s Plea for Papal Help: “We’re Being Doomed by the Church That Should Heal Us”
In a heartfelt note sent straight to the Vatican, a New Zealand chapter of Snap – the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests is going straight to the top of the Catholic hierarchy‑style—Pope Francis. The letter, which slipped into the Vatican’s mailbox on Sept 9, is a blistering cry that the Church’s own redress system is hurting the very people it’s meant to protect.
Key Points in the Letter
- The Church’s “healing” office is supposedly violating its own procedures and re‑traumatising survivors.
- Survivors feel “inherently harmed by the very Church office that should provide healing.”
- Snap demands papal intervention because there’s no genuine, honest path to recovery in New Zealand’s Catholic Church.
Christopher Longhurst, the National Leader for Snap Aotearoa, gives the letter a blunt, almost facet‑timing tone:
“Most sadly, we are being harmed by the very Church office set up to provide healing.”
He points out a stark double‑standard: leaders publicly hand out an “open hand to the hope of healing,” but behind closed doors they re‑traumatize survivors by bending the rules.
Snap’s Grievances
Longhurst lists what he calls “mishandling” in a no‑frills bullet: no proper investigations, no fair reviews, endless stalling, a lack of compassion. He also mentions “general divergence” – meaning the processes look different all over, and the church leaders claim to be constantly improving them.
Who’s Hearing the Grumbles?
While the popplevader is busy swiping through hundreds of letters daily, the Napier‑style open‑Mailing‑box is still hoping the message lands where it matters. The Vatican hasn’t confirmed receipt yet.
Context: The Royal Commission and the “Redress” Process
Snap’s letter lands in the midst of a public inquiry into abuse at faith‑based and state institutions in New Zealand. The Royal Commission, firing on all cylinders, found that up to a quarter‑million children, young people and vulnerable adults were abused in the past few decades, many being Indigenous Māori.
It’s also one of the longest, most tangled investigations that New Zealand has ever mounted. A Royal Commission interim report says: no audit of the redress process yet. They’re planning to deliver a final report next year with concrete recommendations.
Snap’s Target: The Catholic Church’s National Office for Professional Standards (NOPS)
NOPS manages Te Houhanga Rongo (A Path To Healing)—the redress framework that should give survivors a ticket back to safety. The NOPS is under the umbrella of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference, which insists the church leaders have listened to survivors and made changes.
Bishop Stephen Lowe says: “The Church leadership is continually updating and improving the complaints and disclosure processes.”
But how far are they going? A brand‑new report told the Commission that 1,680 cases of alleged abuse from 1950‑2021 meet the definition of abuse. The Church has already paid about NZ$16.8 million directly to roughly 470 survivors via pastoral and ex‑gratia payments.
Critics Are Not Buying It
Wellington lawyer Sonja Cooper, Principal at Cooper Legal, who’s handling 2,000+ cases involving state and faith‑based institutions, calls the system “not a process that exercises any natural justice.” She points out that survivors must shoulder the burden of proving truth, while the church is built to defend clergy.
“If they can find anything to make a decision that is against the survivor, they will.”
She also laments that “ex‑police officers” are part of the interviews, deepening the survivors’ woes.
The Big Picture
The Catholic Church is under global scrutiny for decades of abuse scandals. Pope Francis has called for an “all‑out battle” against child abuse within the clergy, pre‑empting billions in damages.
Now, in New Zealand, a group of survivors is demanding that the very institution meant to guide them back to safety instead becomes a second wound. The letter to the Pope is their last resort; they’re asking for an actual intervention to stand up for those who have been left half‑trapped by bureaucracy and a lack of empathy.
Will the Pope take up this plea? Only time will tell. As long as lives are on the line, the call for real, honest healing presses on.