Former Gloriavale members call apology insincere, fear abuse continues

By Samantha Gee of RNZ

Former Gloriavale members say an apology from the community’s leaders is insincere and they have concerns abuse will continue at the West Coast community.

Last July, the Royal Commission of Inquiry into historic Abuse in Care requested Gloriavale publicly apologise to former members for the neglect and abuse experienced since the religious community’s inception.

Overseeing Shepherd Howard Temple delivered an apology to the community on Monday, which was posted on Gloriavale’s website, acknowledging abuse happened within the community between 1950 and 1999.

Temple said Gloriavale offered its “deepest apologies” that the abuse had occurred and that the leadership of the time had not reported known instances to the authorities.

Gloriavale would listen to victims and support them to heal and receive redress, Temple said.

The Royal Commission’s report said physical and sexual abuse was normalised at Gloriavale, and much of it – including spiritual abuse – stemmed from the leadership’s authoritarian control over the community.

John Ready, pictured with his sister Virginia Courage, left Gloriavale in 2017. Photo / Jean Edwards, RNZ

“The Gloriavale Christian community’s leadership routinely failed to respond to reports of abuse or failed to respond adequately. From its founding until the mid-1990s, all reports of sexual or physical abuse were dealt with by founder and then-Overseeing Shepherd, Neville Cooper (Hopeful Christian), who was subsequently convicted of sexual offences, including against young people.”

Howard Temple acknowledged that as recently as 2017, Gloriavale’s leaders still wanted to keep sexual offending reports in-house unless the person reoffended, the report said.

Overseeing Shepherd Howard Temple. Photo / Nate McKinnon, RNZ

Former members said they did not believe the apology was genuine, or that Gloriavale understood what was needed to achieve redress.

John Ready was born at Gloriavale and left on Christmas Eve in 2017, about two weeks before his 40th birthday.

He found the apology “completely disingenuous”.

“If they actually understood what they were apologising for and they meant it and understood the gravity of it, they would resign themselves ... because they have left nothing but a trail of carnage for so many years and interrupted, disturbed and stolen so many people’s lives.”

Ready questioned why the apology only covered abuse between certain dates.

“Personally as a family ... we suffered after that date, so that was really upsetting.”

Melody Pilgrim was also born at Glorivale and left with her family just over five years ago, when she was 33.

She said the church could have made more of an effort to ensure former Gloriavale members received the apology in a personal and sincere way.

Pilgrim said if she hadn’t seen a reference to it on the Gloriavale Leavers' Support Trust Facebook page, she would not have known an apology had been made.

She was unsettled it referred only to abuse within a certain timeframe, and did not specify the types of abuse that had occurred within the community and that it came from the church and not the leadership.

“To me, it was very vague and it didn’t seem sincere at all.

“If it is a real apology, it is going to identify the cause and effect of the abuse.”

Pilgrim said the church likely needed outside help to identify how abuse occurred within the community in order to achieve redress.

Gideon Benjamin was born at Gloriavale in 1998 and left two years ago as a 24-year-old, with his wife and three children.

By chance, he came across the apology on the Gloriavale website the day it was posted and said it felt “hollow” and there were no meaningful actions to support it.

“Have they ever asked anyone what they could do to compensate them for what they lost or the abuse they suffered? To me, that is all part of putting it right, seeing what you can do to make something better but to my knowledge they have never asked anyone that.”

Gideon requested a personal apology from the leadership in relation to the alleged sexual abuse of someone close to him.

He also questioned why it had taken so long to come up with an apology that was less than a page long.

“Surely there wasn’t that much to think about, you stuffed up and you should apologise.”

He said it felt like a “box-ticking exercise” and there was a lack of willingness amongst leadership for change.

“That is not good enough, that is not repentance and that is not meaningful change.”

Gloriavale has been contacted for comment.

- RNZ