WELLINGTON (NEW ZEALAND)
Radio New Zealand
October 19, 2017
By Phil Pennington
The secret children of a Catholic priest in New Zealand are about to reveal their identity to their local bishop, and a New Zealander who personally briefed the Pope on the topic says the Vatican has recognised the right to know one’s parents
The adult siblings are among thousands internationally who have contacted the Coping International website, which offers support to the children of clergy.
The site’s founder Vincent Doyle – an Irish man who himself is the son of a priest – said he expected many more New Zealanders who are priests’ children, or their mothers, to come forward as they gained courage to speak up.
“We’ve been contacted from a number of people in New Zealand – one family where there’s more than one child to the same priest, to the same woman – but they’re going to be making moves in the coming future to the respective diocese and they’ll be contacting the bishop concerned.”
The family had contacted his website in the last three months, and granted him permission to speak a little about their situation, but most details remained confidential such as how many children there were and where they had grown up.
They were among 13,500 people worldwide who had been in touch with Mr Doyle since he started the website in late 2014.
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