Wairarapa’s locally owned community newspaper
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2019
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No closure after abuse Mike Ledingham joins his two brothers to tell story of abuse by Catholic priest Emily Ireland On the surface, the Ledinghams were a great example of a New Zealand Catholic family. But in secret, three boys in the family were abused by the same paedophile priest as children, causing irreparable damage to them which continues to have an impact on their lives today. Mike Ledingham, who until recently lived in Featherston, has returned to Wairarapa to launch an autobiographical account of the abuse in a book called The Catholic Boys. The launch will take place on Sunday at 1.30pm at Messines Bookshop in Featherston. Mike, who grew up in Auckland, attended Te Papapa Primary School and later Onehunga Convent. The abuse took place at the latter by Father Francis Green who died in 1990. “[The abuse] happened to me when I was 7 or 8 and I’m 69 now, so it’s been 60 years adrift with all of this going on in my head,” Mike said. “It’s taken a long time. I’ve been writing the book for 25 years.” Mike Ledingham will have a Featherston book launch of, The Catholic Boys. PHOTO/EMILY IRELAND
In 2002, Mike and his brothers Gerard and Chris went public with their account of Green’s child molestation, and the Catholic Church made a financial settlement with them in the early 2000s. The brothers had wanted to take action earlier, but with an unwell mother who was a devout Catholic, they decided against coming forward until after she had passed away. “She had been brought up a Catholic all her life, and we couldn’t take that from her,” Mike said. He said the abuse had made him “pretty messed up”, causing him to spend the first 20 years of his life “running and getting into trouble”. “You don’t feel good about yourself, you know.” Mike’s academic performance dropped when the abuse occurred, and he left school at a young age. “I still believe the church is culpable,” he said. “They were entrusted with our education, and they betrayed that trust.” Mike served in the New Zealand Army from the age of 20 to 35 which he said was “good” for him. Documenting the abuse and bringing the Catholic Church to account has also been somewhat therapeutic for Mike. But he said there would never be Continued on page 4
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