AUCKLAND (NEW ZEALAND)
Stuff [Wellington, New Zealand]
May 7, 2026
By Steve Kilgallon
Survivors and campaigners say a Marist Brothers event planned for Saturday is a “PR exercise” that fails to provide fair compensation for those harmed. Steve Kilgallon reports
A public apology on Saturday by the Marist Brothers will be boycotted by some survivors of abuse by members of the religious order, who are calling it a “hollow” and “insulting” ceremony.
A survivors body, the Network of Survivors of Religious Abuse and their Supporters, is encouraging its members to protest outside the venue over what it believes is the failure of the order to provide substantial settlements with Fijian survivors of abuse by New Zealand Marist Brothers who were sent there as primary school teachers.
The Network also argues the Marists have failed to properly compensate domestic survivors, with some receiving $10,000 for their abuse. The Marists’ have vast wealth and property holdings in New Zealand.
Another group, SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) is planning a counter-event outside a church in Napier at the same time; convener Christopher Longhurst said the reason SNAP didn’t “ support the apology is because they do not support us”.
One survivor said he never received a formal invitation and was rebuffed when he asked to speak at the event for just three minutes. He was told he could supply a written testimony to be displayed.
Another South Island-based survivor said he wouldn’t attend because the offer of just $500 towards travel and accommodation for him and his family was insulting.
The Marists have repeatedly circulated an advisory telling media they are not welcome at the apology because it has a “single focus on expressing an apology… to survivors of abuse” and said journalists who turned up would be barred from entering the Auckland waterfront venue.
The Marists’ ownership of schools such as Auckland’s St Paul’s and Sacred Heart gave them extensive access to young people, and their record of abuse was detailed in the Stuff series A Secret History. The Catholic church’s own statistics report abuse claims against 12% of the order’s members but campaigners believe the figure to be much higher.
Network of Survivors spokesman Murray Heasley, who has been campaigning for proper compensation for a group of four Fijian survivors, called the apology “hollow and meaningless”.
“This could have been a win-win – they could have announced adequate compensation for everyone, they’ve got heaps of money,” said Heasley.
He has sent multiple emails to the Marist order over almost a year seeking negotiations over compensation for the Fijian survivors.
He got a substantive response on April 30 from Darren Burge, the leader of the Star of the Sea (Oceania) province of the order, passing responsibility back to his Fijian delegate, Fergus Garrett. Burge told Heasley the Auckland apology was “directly focused” on Kiwi survivors and “ we ask all attending to respect that and acknowledge this day is for them”; he said it would be a “profound and enduring” apology.
Heasley said the apology should be delayed until the Marists properly compensate Fijian survivors, committed to paying $120,000 to any survivor of their abuse (the current known maximum payout made to a single survivor), that any serving members confess their offences to police, and all survivors could be funded to attend the apology with support people.
In an email, his fellow convener Liz Tonks said the Network believed “apology before appropriate financial and supported redress… is not only hollow, but continues the practice of funding media optics to give the appearance the institutions are being responsible. This deprives survivors … of having the perpetrating institutions held accountable”.
Meanwhile, survivor John* – whose story Stuff told here – said the only contact he’d had with the Marist Brothers since 2020 was being told to get a lawyer as it was easier for them to communicate over a settlement that way.
He said receiving an invite to an event where he was expected to organise flights, accommodation and food for himself and his family with the Marists offering just a $500 ‘gift’ towards those costs was “frankly insulting”. “If the Marist Brothers truly wished to invite us to a sincere event, they would have followed the lead of the Royal Commission and covered these costs fully. I will not be attending. I have no confidence that the Marist Brothers… intend to do the right thing by the survivor community.”
One survivor who will attend the event is Frances Tagaloa, who will be among four survivors to speak at the ceremony.
Stuff has seen emails sent by Heasley, Tonks and others to Tagaloa criticising her for agreeing to speak.
Tagaloa said she understood the boycotts, but wanted to be there to ensure the Marists heard “constructive criticism”.
She said her speech would “point out the issues survivors have had – it’s not going to be a pleasant response.. it’s important for them to hear from a survivor perspective.”
She said she would be calling out the Marists’ issues: “they need to hear constructive criticism”.
Tagaloa said she was shocked the Marists would exclude media, because she wanted reporting to make the order publicly accountable. She said her expectation was a survivor-focused, “genuine, heartfelt” apology because previous apologies had been hollow, defensive, legalistic, and not backed up by actions.
Marist Brothers spokeswoman Gayatri Nair said the Brothers recognised not all survivors could or would want to attend in person, so they would provide a free livestream. In response to the Fijian survivors, she said redress matters were “addressed in-country and this is the established process”.
She acknowledged the Network boycott but asked they “respectfully allow other Survivors the opportunity to attend and be supported without disruption”.
She said they could not accommodate all survivors speaking at the event but they had offered the opportunity to display survivors’ written testimonies.