BY FR. SHAY CULLENĀ
IT IS THAT terrible time for devout Catholics and Christians everywhere when the evil of clerical child sex abuse is revealed once again on the international stage. The investigative report on clerical child abuse released May 23, 2023 by the Attorney General named six Catholic dioceses in Illinois declared that clerical child abuse is rife today as in the past.
The sacred trust that the people of God, followers of Jesus, have in the clergy is challenged by the truth about clerical abuse of children. If they have true faith in Jesus of Nazareth and his teaching that goodness, truth, justice and love of neighbour and children will one day overcome and defeat evil, their faith will not be shaken. They will stand firm and welcome the truth that is cleansing the Institutional Church.
In the Philippines the cleansing has not yet happened. Child abuse cases by clergy are settled with money and the clerical abusers go free to abuse again. The truth does escape sometimes but rarely. In Cagayan province a priest is in jail for allegedly committing multiple rape and sexual assaults and videoing the encounters and black-mailing the child victim. He admits it but claims it was consensual but the blackmail of the victim says it was not.
In Negros Occidental, a priest is charged since 2019 with the sexual assault of a four-year old child. He paid bail. She testified clearly to the abuse. The judge has not made a ruling after four years in violation of the Supreme Court order for speedy disposition of cases. Why we ask? Will they attempt to get the child, now eight years old, to withdraw her complaint? That priest, like many abusive clergy, is allowed by their bishop to continue in the ministry despite Vatican instructions they be suspended.
In the Philippines, where a powerful hierarchy makes each case an internal matter for the church as Cardinal Antonio Tagle told the BBC, it seems some bishops believe clergy have impunity for crimes of child abuse. Few cases against priests ever get to court, most victims and their parents are intimidated and paid to stay quiet. Such payments are in effect an admission of guilt, and in the Philippines it works. There have been no convictions of a priest ever.
The church as an institution, it seems, can intimidate, influence and control some prosecutors and judges. A clear case was in Biliran where a priest walked free and continued in ministry after serious charges of multiple abuse of altar boys were long pending with the prosecutor without action although a US judge found probable cause and ordered him to be brought to court under US law.
But truly dedicated prosecutors stood firm and strong in doing justice. What will likely never happen in the Philippines is an independent investigation by an external team of investigators working with the Department of Justice to uncover the extent of the clerical child sexual abuse like they do in the United States, Australia and Europe. (To be continued)/PN
