Former Police Commissioner John Jamieson is investigating five cases of historic sex abuse allegations against members of the Catholic Church in New Zealand.
The inquiries come as the church worldwide is rocked by allegations of child sex crimes committed by clergy.
Accusations have been directed at the highest level with the Vatican denying Pope Benedict XVI was involved in covering up some of the crimes.
This week the Catholic Archbishop of Wellington John Dew said he had apologised to church members for the "humiliation, embarrassment and disappointment" resulting from continuing reports of child abuse by priests in several countries.
"I think as more revelations come to light and people hear of that, it has put the church in a crisis," he said.
Archbishop Dew said the situation had been made even worse as church members heard that the cases may have been mishandled.
"That's why I wanted to say something to the people," he said.
The Catholic Church commissioned Mr Jamieson to investigate complaints from the outset to ensure they were handled appropriately and the complainant is satisfied.
Mr Jamieson, who is not a Catholic, said today he was investigating five complaints of child abuse lodged last year, which allegedly happened between 20 and 75 years ago.
Some of the subjects of the complaints were still alive and living in New Zealand, but some had since died, Mr Jamieson told Radio New Zealand today.
"If there's any criminal activity that is alleged then we would recommend if the person is alive to go to the police station as well."
However, some complainants did not want to have the police investigate their case, he said.
"They have their own reasons for that, but they don't want to go through a court process, they don't want it to be publicised, they want the church to deal with it."
In the past the church had paid money to some complainants to ensure the case did not proceed further, but that was no longer the case, Mr Jamieson said.
Those people would today not be held to conditions agreed at the time.
"People are free to talk to the media, they're free to talk to the police and free to go to lawyers and take any action they wish. They are free to ask me to do a review if they're not happy with it."
Mr Jamieson said the number of complaints had dropped in recent years, unlike in Europe and the United States where cases of abuse and cover-ups had surfaced almost daily, in recent weeks.
A spokesman for the Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse Trust, Ken Clearwater, has called for a full-scale inquiry into cases in New Zealand, as has taken place in Ireland, Canada and Australia.
He said earlier this week there were "hundreds, if not thousands" of victims in New Zealand.
