AUCKLAND (NEW ZEALAND)
Stuff [Wellington, New Zealand]
May 13, 2026
By Steve Kilgallon
A religious body has reported itself to the Privacy Commissioner for a breach in which it accidentally circulated email addresses, including those of scores of survivors of sexual abuse, in a mass mailout.
The Marist Brothers made the bungle on the same day as it held a formal apology for its record of sexual abuse.
The email was sent to those planning to attend the event advising them of a delayed start time – but the email addresses of the roughly 100 recipients were visible to everyone on the mailing list.
Abuse survivor Steve Goodlass said the majority of those listed were survivors – including his own personal email address.
“It’s appalling what they’ve done, because under no circumstances should you be breaching someone’s privacy, but to go into a sensitive area like this, you should absolutely not be doing it – there is a duty of care that’s involved,” Goodlass said.
“It’s ironic that while that [email] was sitting in everyone’s inbox, they were going on to us [at the formal apology] about their safeguarding process and how good they are.”
Goodlass claimed he’d spoken to another survivor who had never revealed his identity who was distraught over the breach.
Murray Heasley, spokesman for the advocacy group the Network of Survivors of Faith-Based Abuse and their Supporters, said he understood the breach was down to human error but feedback from his network had been “very negative” and he knew of at least three other survivors who were formulating formal complaints.
The Marists excluded media from attending the apology in Auckland last Saturday, but provided a live stream for them to watch.
They subsequently contacted media asking them to take down any comments made by one particular survivor during the live stream who they said had asked to remain anonymous.
In an email sent on Monday to survivors, the Brothers’ professional standards manager Jonathan Sankey said he sincerely apologised for the privacy breach.
“ I recognise this may have caused distress, loss of trust, and feelings of exposure, particularly for Survivors and others who have already experienced situations where privacy, safety, and control were taken away. I acknowledge the harm this may cause and the impact it may have on your sense of safety and wellbeing. This should not have happened.
“As soon as the breach was identified, immediate steps were taken to acknowledge and contain it. However, I recognise that responding quickly does not remove the impact this may have had on those affected. I am deeply sorry.”
Sankey said he had reported the matter to the Privacy Commissioner and the Marists were also undertaking an internal review, and he asked all the recipients to permanently delete the email and not save contact details.
He said the email contained email addresses for survivors, advocates, supporters and “stakeholders”.
He said he recognised the situation might be upsetting or retraumatising for survivors and offered independent support.
“Thank you for your patience and understanding as we work to respond to this appropriately and with care.”
The Privacy Commissioner’s office told Stuff that an organisation which had a privacy breach “ that either has caused or is likely to cause anyone serious harm” must notify the Commissioner and anyone affected as soon as possible. “We would expect it to be an organisation or business who would provide any further detail they would want to share in relation to any breach.”
The Marist Brothers did not respond to Stuff’s requests for comment.
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. The apology came under fire from survivors and advocacy groups who called it “hollow” and “insulting” for various reasons.
The Network of Survivors wrote to the Marists’ national boss, Peter Carroll, in Rome setting out their concerns with how the apology was conducted, and saying survivors should all receive a minimum $120,000 settlement as a new baseline.