Onus on Church to confront sexual abuse

Flavia Agnes 
Women’s rights lawyer

ROMAN Catholics across the world are waiting in great anticipation for the outcome of the historic meeting of representatives of Bishops’ Conferences, who will assemble in the Vatican from February 21 to 24 to deliberate upon the sexual abuse crisis that has plagued the Catholic Church for decades. Cardinal Ozwald Gracias, head of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI), is one of the nine advisers to Pope Francis and a member of the organising team for this meeting.

In recent years, skeletons have tumbled out, exposing the carefully guarded secrets of sexual abuse of children by the priestly class in countries such as the US, Ireland and Australia. The Church had to spend millions of dollars, and even sell off its property, to pay huge amounts of compensation ordered by courts in Boston and other places in the US. Even Bishops have been complicit in the crime, providing the cover-up to the acts of abuse of innocent children by priests. In response to the crisis, the Vatican had issued directions a few years ago that a Child Protection Policy must be introduced in every country to ensure the safety of minors within Church institutions.

There have been personal narratives of abuse of religious women (nuns) from across the world. The sexual scandals that unfold every day in different parts of the world have brought out poignant ‘first-person accounts’ by victims who have confirmed that cover-ups and systematic silence by their superiors destroyed the lives of so many children and adults from every continent.

Studies on the abuse of religious women were published years ago, but there was no noticeable change in the Church hierarchy’s attitude. While the incidents of abuse continue, religious women reporting these crimes are made to feel abandoned — sometimes excluded from their own communities. 

Voices of Faith (VoF), an organisation which strives to enhance women’s role and participation within the Church hierarchy, had organised an event in November 2018 in the Vatican, where it had invited survivors of abuse from various continents to share their experiences. They narrated poignant accounts not only of the abuse by priests, but also of how their superiors refused to act on their complaints. 

Though Christians are a minority in India, several incidents of abuse of women and children by the clergy have hit the headlines in recent years. The alleged sexual abuse of a nun in Kerala by the Bishop of the Jalandhar diocese and the so-called ‘neutral’ position adopted by the Church officials, who refused to issue a statement in favour of the survivor, is still fresh in people’s minds. Finally, following sustained protests by the nuns of the congregation and their supporters, the Bishop was arrested, but later released on bail. Subsequently, he was given a hero’s welcome by the Catholic community in Jalandhar. The chargesheet in this case is yet to be filed. 

Close on the heels of this episode comes the news report of the conviction by a POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) court in Kannur (Kerala) on February 15 of a Catholic priest, Fr Robin, for raping and impregnating a 16-year-old student of one of the schools under his authority.

It has taken two years to secure the conviction. There was a huge cover-up in this case too. Due to the pressure by the accused, the girl’s father came forward to take the blame upon himself, so that the priest could be let off. Finally, during interrogation, he broke down and confessed. The victim and her mother turned hostile during the trial. But the DNA test of the infant matched with that of the priest, which helped to nail him. He has been awarded 20 years’ imprisonment. 

The announcement from the Vatican in August 2018 that the issue of sexual abuse would be discussed at the highest level raised the hopes of millions that at last some concrete steps would be taken to curb this menace. However, Pope Francis recently stated that not much should be expected from the meeting as it was called only to apprise the Bishops of the sexual abuse of minors and to pray and reflect upon the matter. However, in another statement, the Pope admitted that the problem of sexual abuse against religious women existed and must be acknowledged.

There is as yet no clarity whether the survivors of abuse have been invited to speak at this gathering. There appears to be no transparency about the procedure which will be followed at this historic meeting. The VoF has put out a statement that there has been no response to its questions regarding transparency and the expected outcomes of the meeting.

Representatives of a global organisation of survivors and advocates against clergy abuse, Ending Clergy Abuse (ECA), will be present in Rome to respond to what comes out of the conference. Virginia Saldanha, a delegate from India, has been working on the issue of clergy abuse for decades and has helped many survivors to follow up the cases within the Church hierarchy in the country. 

Regarding the expected outcomes, Doris Wagner, a former religious sister from Germany who reported abuse by clergy in her own congregation, comments: “What the Church as an institution could give to the survivors is the message: You are the Church and you are here at home, tell us what you need and we will give it to you. I believe there is a future for the Church only if the Church at all its levels, in teaching, legally, institutionally, structurally is committed to this logic.”