Te Rōpū Tautoko

Sir Anand Satyanand appointed as Chair of the Royal Commission and asked to receive public feedback on the draft Terms of Reference.

The New Zealand Catholic Bishops and representation from Catholic religious orders write a letter supporting the Royal Commission and seeking inclusion of religious institutions. Read the full letter here.

After hearing feedback from over 400 groups and individuals, Sir Anand Satyanand presented a report on the draft Terms of Reference to the government.

The final Terms of Reference are published and include faith-based institutions. The government also confirms the four other Commissioners: Judge Coral Shaw, Andrew Erueti, Ali’imuamua Sandra Alofivae and Paul Gibson.

In response, Te Rōpū Tautoko (“Tautoko”) is formed by the bishops and congregational leaders of Aotearoa. This is a group to ensure that the Catholic Church provides a co-ordinated and co-operative response to the Commission from all the many dioceses, congregations, and institutions of the Church in this country. 

Read the Commission’s news article here, or click here to read the Catholic Church’s media statement welcoming the inclusion of faith-based institutions.

The Commissioners received their warrants on 3 January 2019, their first formal working day for the Commission.

At the Preliminary hearing the Commission shared information about why the commission was established, what a Royal Commission is, how they will do their work, detail about private sessions, public hearings and research, and how the public hearings will work.

View recordings and read speeches made on the Commission’s website.

Te Rōpū Tautoko applies to attend the Procedural Hearing. This Hearing allowed “individuals, groups or organisations the opportunity to let us know that they want to be formally involved in the Inquiry, and are seeking to become a core participant and if so, how to go about that.”

Tautoko submitted a number of documents to the Commission, including their memorandum, an explanation of the structure of the Catholic Church, and a Letter of Commitment.

Te Rōpū Tautoko begins visiting each diocese to meet with the local church leaders and give them an overview of the work Tautoko will be doing. View the presentation given here.

In preparation for the Contextual Hearing in October, the Royal Commission ran this Procedural Hearing. “A procedural hearing is a meeting to help the Inquiry prepare for a public hearing, to make sure it runs as well as possible.”

More information, and a record of what was said, is available on the Royal Commission’s website.

Recognising the importance of survivors having absolute clarity regarding being able to fully tell their story to the Royal Commission, Te Rōpū Tautoko recommended to the Bishops and Congregational Leaders that they establish a process, similar to the Crowns, to enable all survivors to participate fully in the Commission. View the full waiver here.

From the Commission’s website: “The Contextual hearing was the first public hearing of the Inquiry. Between 29 October to 8 November 2019, the Inquiry heard from witnesses on topics that provide context to the wide ranging scope of the Inquiry and that the Inquiry will explore in more detail over the next few years.”

At this hearing, Tautoko made a statement to the Royal Commission.

Tautoko also produced a thematic review of this hearing to update Catholic leaders who were unable to attend or view online.

Dioceses and congregations worked to gather and provide a large number of documents that the Royal Commission requested. It is for the Royal Commission to decide what will be made public.

Te Rōpū Tautoko coordinated this work remotely, since COVID lockdown was in effect in New Zealand (and Australia & England, where some congregation archives are held).

The Royal Commission has announced ten investigations. Those directly involving the Catholic Church include:

• Redress – State and Faith
• Abuse in the care of the Catholic Church
• Case study examining abuse of children at Marylands School (which was governed and managed by the St John of God brothers, a Catholic congregation)

The full list of investigations can be viewed on the Royal Commission’s website.

A Procedural hearing to deal with applications made by faith-based orgnisations in relation to the Faith-based Redress Hearing, starting 30 November. 

Due to the nature of the hearing it was not live streamed. The outcomes from this hearing can be viewed on the Commission’s website.

The first phase of this hearing heard from survivors who shared their experiences of abuse and the redress processes of the Catholic Church, Anglican Church, and the Salvation Army.

The witness statements and other information can be viewed on the Commission’s website.

The Royal Commission published its interim report, Tāwharautia: Pūrongo o te Wā, and other associated reports on its website.

A media statement was issued on behalf of Te Rōpū Tautoko and the Bishops and Congregational leaders in response to this interim report. Read it online.

In the second phase of the hearing, witnesses for Faith-based institutions (including the Catholic Church, Anglican Church, and the Salvation Army) gave evidence on their processes for resolving historic and current abuse claims.

Full summaries of statements can be found on the Royal Commission’s website. View our summary of the Catholic section on our Faith-based Redress landing page.