Ko tona mea nui he tapu.

A prominent Catholic priest and theologian has been exposed as a self-confessed paedophile, who was quietly placed on a sex offenders programme by the church and is suspected of having abused dozens of children for decades.The Herald can reveal Father Michael Shirres, who had lectured in Māori theology at the University of Auckland and wrote several books on Māori spirituality, confessed to sexually abusing a young girl and is suspected of abusing many other victims.The Catholic church has confirmed it received five complaints against Shirres and placed him in a programme for sex offenders. Another victim says a therapist told her Shirres admitted to abusing dozens of children.  ~ Winter of 2018

"His greatest possession is his tapu".

Michael Shirres, born at Timaru, New Zealand on 12 July 1929, was a Dominican brother who worked for over twenty years with Maori elders on the the inculturation of Christianity and Christ into the cosmology of the Maori : mauritanga.

Brother Michael passed away on 5 October 1997 after being companioned through the last three years of his life by Progressive Bulbar Palsy, a form of Motor Neurone Disease (ALS): a terminal disease for which there is no known cure.

One of Brother Michael's legacies is his website on Maori Theology which would appeal to the serious scholar of Polynesian cosmology.     Website returns 404 Error.

In his lifetime, Brother Michael made the fullest attempt to define and redefine concepts from pakeha Christian theology and Polynesian cosmology, and in doing so weaved what Theologian John Charlot entitled:  The Maori-Christian Theology of Michael Shirres.

An organisation that offers therapy to child sex abusers says more needs to be done by organisations referring clients to them to dismantle their own cultures of secrecy and silence.

"It is one skeleton I didn't expect to come out of the closet."
The nephew said he was glad his own mother had died not knowing what Shirres had done. Shirres' brother, John, had also died about five years ago.
"I don't believe his own brother had any idea of what his brother had done," he said.

Father Walsh released a statement to Catholic media last month expressing ''deep sorrow and heartfelt apology to those who have suffered, and continue to suffer, because of Michael Shirres' actions."