Royal Commission Report Part Three – What to make of Apologies

Opinion piece: Liz Gregory.

(Thoughts, opinions and views expressed here belong to Liz Gregory and may or may not represent the views of all leavers, current members or the Trust).

I want to highlight one recommendation that the Commission made to Gloriavale. They have requested that within 6 months the Overseeing Shepherd of Gloriavale apologises…

Rewind two years ago. Remember when Gloriavale put out a statement in the local newspaper after publicly losing the Courage Employment Court case and they “apologised” for abuse and exploitation of the boys? (Please remember there is a difference between an apology and acknowledgment, or an apology and regret you got found out).

That apology was soundly rejected by majority of Leavers as nothing but a PR exercise. The following two years proved that point. The girls still aren’t being paid. Boys have turned into “self-employed contractors” (which is dishonest because everyone in NZ knows what it means to be a self-employed contractor – and it doesn’t look like that). Adults still aren’t being paid proper entitlements. They claim their “Partnership” is a real partnership (rather than employment), but it’s not able to pay people even minimum entitlements for a working week (Some people get $300 – $700 a month for working full-time, and then have to hand it back in – except their tax portion).

Meanwhile the Gloriavale leaders apparently spent around $1.5 million on lawyers last year to protect themselves and offenders they have harboured for years (and the average community gets no say in whether they want Gloriavale to fight cases, or appeal decisions. The Shepherds and Servants and Management teams spent that money on their “behalf”.) Ironincally it’s likely any apology that is written will be likely be passed through the leadership and then vetted by their lawyers, who have benefitted immensely from Gloriavale over the years. Therein lies the irony that victims in Gloriavale are paying lawyers to ensure the perpetrators aren’t fully brought to account – and they have no choice in the matter.

The other irony is that Gloriavale still holds control over people, and has created a quasi-paperwork trail to look like they are above board, while on the other hand making people feel guilty for not “handing their money in” and then using the money they do have to protect the people who have created so much harm in their community. There’s an insidious loop here. (Where is MBIE in all of this?)

Abuse and Accountability, the role of men and women

In the past two years there have been a large number of men charged, convicted and sent to prison for sexual and physical offending. Sadly Gloriavale leaders knew about much of this abuse and DID NOT go to the Police and report these men and women. As far as I know they still aren’t volunteering to go to the Police and they are harbouring harmful people.

But it’s not just men who participated in the abuse. It’s women too. And this is the issue. These groups require participants. We recognise they were indoctrinated with Gloriavale ideology and we would have participated in the same way if we were living there. There are still ladies living there who have been involved in unspeakable acts of child abuse – and they are still interacting with children. I know one lady took a friend of ours (when they were around 4 years old), and grabbed them by the hair and then repeatedly banged their head against the concrete floor… I know another adult who saw that happen, and who has suffered moral injury because of their inability to speak up at the time and stop it happening. They feel immensely guilty. I know of parents who burnt their children’s hands until nails fell off. I know other children who experienced beatings with 4×2 timber. I know of terrible terrible things.

But everyone in the community knew about it. It wasn’t a secret. The leaders saw it, and some encouraged it, and some participated. Meanwhile they sit in court cases calling Gloriavale “heaven on earth” and then they have the audacity to say “We don’t do that anymore“. But are they willing to stand up and say “To our shame we did do this. We damaged people. And we shouldn’t have done it. And Hopeful was wrong to encourage this culture. And we should have said no and walked away and taken our children to safety. And now I will go the Police and tell them about everything I participated in and witnessed?”

I don’t think we’re going to see that. That would be fruit of their change and evidence of their sorrow and sadness. And leavers would notice this change.

That’s the challenge right there. Gloriavale can sit in court in 2022 and tell everyone that they made some unwise choices in the past, and perhaps they misunderstood the Scriptures, and now they are going to report all offending moving forwards. But what about the PAST offending they are still sitting on???

Can you really apologise for something, and promise to do better in the future, but not root out the past wrong?

Forced apologies and ungracious leavers?

Additionally I think it’s a big ask for the Commission to recommend that an organisation who is under active Police investigation for slavery, forced labour and servitude apologises. I am not sure leavers are interested in another “Gloriavale apology”. The penny hasn’t dropped yet for Gloriavale. They haven’t even admitted or seen the wrongdoing in their slavish ownership of people under the name of serving God. And so my guess is that any apology that comes from Gloriavale is going to be disrespected immensely by vast majority of Leavers. All serves to do is give another platform to sit in court and say, “We’ve apologised. Why don’t you stop being bitter and just forgive… and forget.”

This is quite a harmful thing to do. Because then it makes the leavers look like they have been unforgiving and ungracious. This is not the case. They are hurt and very upset that Gloriavale spends its time protecting their reputation, and supporting offenders to keep their crimes undercover. They are remarkably gracious toward people who have offended against them. They understand what factors helped shape some of their violent or sexual deviations. Some of them have also done wrong. So this is not an issue of forgiveness and bitterness. This is an issue of a institution who has done wrong over decades, and is promising to have changed, but they haven’t done the reflecting part and the owning up part yet.

Meanwhile there are still more charges to be laid, and more abusers to be brought to justice. No doubt Gloriavale is hoping plenty of their sordid history will remain hidden… Gloriavale still has a lot to be ashamed about. Perhaps when leavers see some real honesty from the leadership, leavers might be prepared to listen to an apology. But apologies need to look better than words on pages and some new policies and a promise of a better future. They need to reflect back on the past (not-so-distant) and be apologetic and accountable it.

Part Four coming soon – Recommendations from the Commission.