Disgraced Palmerston North bishop Charles Drennan subject of earlier complaint
Paul Mitchell and Jono Galuszka17:03, Oct 05 2019
The Catholic Church hasn’t yet released the nature of the investigation into the 59-year-old.
A second complaint involving the conduct of disgraced Catholic bishop of Palmerston North Charles Drennan has been referred to church officials in Rome.
Pope Francis accepted Bishop Charles Drennan’s resignation, which was announced on Friday night, over a complaint made by a young woman in regards to “unacceptable” behaviour of a sexual nature.
Cardinal John Dew, the Metropolitan Archbishop of New Zealand, revealed on Saturday morning it was not the first sexual misconduct complaint made against Drennan.
Details of the previous complaint were not disclosed . . .
. . . He was the only bishop on the support group known as Te Rōpū Tautoko, which was set up to manage co-operation between the Catholic Church and the
Abuse in Care Royal Commission. . . .
. . . Drennan returned to Christchurch after his time in Rome and gave a sermon in 2010 in when a swathe of child sex abuse scandals in churches across multiple countries became public.
In the sermon, part of which was published in
The Press , he said the “trivialisation of sexuality” had created a crisis for society.
“The most blatant and damaging form of this crisis is the turning of human beings into objects.” . . . .
. . . He was given the name Pīhopa O Nga Rangatahi, the bishop for young people, by local Māori.
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