St Patrick's Silverstream says it has not removed an alleged abuser's portrait from school wall despite repeated requests from victims

Father Patrick Minto's portrait on the wall at St Patrick's Silverstream in Upper Hutt.

A Catholic school says it has not removed a portrait of an accused abuser despite repeated requests from victims because claims against him have not been fully substantiated.

School leaders from St Patrick's Silverstream in Upper Hutt appeared before the Royal Commission of Inquiry into state and religious abuse yesterday.

Former students who were abused by senior staff at the state-integrated school had asked for their abusers' portraits to be taken off the school's walls when they appeared at previous hearings.

Former student Patrick Cleary said he was sexually abused by former rectors Father Francis Durning and Father Patrick Minto while he was a student at St Pat's in 1951.

Cleary died in July 2020, before he could give evidence to the commission. His family told the commission that he wanted the portraits removed so that other children "don't honour dishonourable men".

"All Dad wanted was for Minto and Durning to be taken down," his daughter Tina said at the time.

Patrick Cleary's daughter Tina speaking at the Royal Commission in November 2020. Photo / Livestream

The school removed Durning's portrait in 2019. The former rector, who died in 1999, has been accused of abuse by multiple victims. But pictures of Minto and two others who have been accused of abuse remained on the wall. Minto was a teacher at the school in the 1950s and later become rector in the 1970s.

The commission heard yesterday that the school had received advice from the Society of Mary that there was insufficient evidence of allegations against a priest, understood to be Minto. The Society of Mary is a Catholic organisation which founded several schools including St Patrick's in New Zealand.

Clare Couch, chair of the school's board of proprietors, said any information about abuse allegations or investigations was held by the society.

The portraits were a way of showing the school's history, she said, even if that history was "mixed" for some people.

"It feels a challenging situation to be in," she said. "To remove a portrait seems a simple answer. But this doesn't feel like a simple situation."

She said there were issues of a "just process" and "natural justice" to be considered. But the board was "respectful" of the latest request and might set up a sub-committee to consider the matter, she said.

Survivors were disappointed by the school's response.

Dan Cleary, Patrick Cleary's son, said that his father never sought compensation from the school or the society.

"My father wanted them to fess up and he knew that this simple request would force them to do that.

"Dad wanted a blank space to be left on the wall where the portraits were so that students would inquire why, so they would learn who these priests really were."

Network of Survivors of Abuse in Faith-based Institutions spokesman Murray Heasley. Photo / Supplied

The Network of Survivors of Abuse in Faith-based Institutions wrote to the school last month asking for the pictures to be removed, saying it would "start the arduous path to healing".

Spokesman Murray Heasley said the group never heard from the school and only discovered this would not happen at yesterday's hearing: "That really sticks in our throats".

"The church has claimed categorically that its paradigm has shifted to believing survivors. If this is their notion of natural justice then this royal commission has failed to shift the Catholic Church one iota."

Earlier, the school's leaders were asked about why St Pat's, which was founded in 1931, held no records before 2005.

Board chair Sean Mahony said: "That's 17 years ago. Does it surprise me? I haven't actually thought about it."

Mahony added that it was "not unusual" to not hold records for a long period of time.

Asked whether they should have been retained for longer, he said: "I don't feel I can answer that, I'm sorry, I don't know."

New Zealand Society of Mary Provincial Father Tim Duckworth said he played a significant role in investigating allegations and considering redress for victims, but only after 2002.

"It's terrible and very distressing that there have been a number of historical incidences or instances of abuse at Silverstream," he told the commission.

"It's very apparent that the response to allegations of abuse at the time were inadequate,"