Watchdog accuses PH bishops of covering up clerics’ child sex abuses

CBCP president says the Church needs the help of lay people in curbing abuses

 

Art by Janssen Judd Romero/ THE FLAME

CATHOLIC BISHOPS in the Philippines have been “covering up” the cases of clerics accused of sexually abusing minors, an international group claimed, as it released a database naming 82 priests and bishops assigned to the country who have been linked to such crimes.

Anne Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, said the bishops were “still keeping secret” the sexual abuses of several Catholic priests, an act that she claimed diminishes the authenticity of the Church’s sanctions on erring clerics.

“They hadn’t published any document. They haven’t published lists of accused clergy. They don’t even deem it necessary to tell the public when they are reinstating a priest who has been accused of child rape,” Doyle told reporters at the University of the Philippines – Diliman University Hotel last Jan. 29.

“They (Philippine bishops) feel entitled to withhold information about sexual violence toward minors. They feel entitled to defend accused priests, knowing full well that the statements will discourage victims and witnesses,” she added.

According to Suzanne Nauman, the group’s senior researcher and database manager, only public information like news articles were used in identifying clergy members tagged in sexual abuse since the Church has not released any document.

The tracker listed a total of 60 accused Filipino bishops and priests, 23 of them charged in the Philippines. The rest are facing cases in other countries.

It also contained the names of 21 foreign clerics, mostly from the United States of America, who served in Philippine parishes for some time.

No member of the clergy has been convicted and imprisoned under the Philippine court, according to the group.

Some accused priests reportedly continued their ministry a few years after being suspended.

“[A] bunch of researchers go online and discover that these priests are back in ministry, back in full ministry with no explanation given,” Doyle said.

“The trail runs dry case after case in the Philippines. A priest is arrested; we see media coverage, and then nothing.”

Safe spaces

Reacting to the BishopAccountability.org database, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David said Pope Francis is determined to impose disciplinary measures on the clergy to ensure safe spaces in the secular institutions.

The Pope may discipline bishops who failed to hold misbehaving clerics accountable upon the recommendation of the Dicastery for Bishops, he added.

“Accountability is a big aspect of Pope Francis’s call for greater synodality in the Church.  He expects bishops to make sure all our Church institutions are safe spaces, especially for minors and vulnerable adults,” David said in a statement.

“After the series of abuse scandals that have negatively impacted the Church in Europe and America for the past several decades now, Pope Francis has been more resolute in coming up with stricter policies that would make sure that all our Church institutions are guaranteed to be safe spaces, especially for minors and vulnerable adults,” he added.

David said the CBCP ensures that priests who are entering and leaving the country for ministry work have no sexual abuse records and are endorsed by their states’ bishops.

“It may indeed happen in some instances that a Filipino priest accused of sexual abuse in the US, comes back to the Philippines to run away from his case. That is why we are now stricter about asking Filipino priests incardinated outside the country to make sure they are properly endorsed by their bishops in the States if they come home to the Philippines for vacation and intend to celebrate Mass in any diocese in the Philippines.

However, David admitted that the CBCP is “at a loss” on how to deal with clerics charged in the US who may be hiding in the Philippines.

“We’re not always successful in this regard, and we need the help and participation of our laypeople,” he said.

“It’s important that the local bishops, to whom they are incarcerated in the States, should inform us, bishops in the Philippines, about such cases so that we can take appropriate action.”

David said the CBCP welcomes initiatives intended to hold people in whatever form of authority accountable, including the Church. He acknowledged that the Church, being a human institution, is not exempt from sin and corruption.

For Doyle, law enforcers play a bigger role than the Church in holding offenders accountable.

“As long as the problem is maintained within the Church, there won’t be justice,” Doyle said.

“If there is anything that has been proven in the last 20 years in disclosures, it’s that the Church cannot self-police itself regarding this issue. If you (victims) want your perpetrator removed, you better go to law enforcement than the Catholic Church,’” she added.

BishopAccountability.org began compiling their data on the country in 2015 with the use of online information on clergy sexual abuses from news reports and dioceses. It tracks sexual abuse cases in the Catholic Church and has published databases on the United States, Chile, Argentina, Ireland, and Haiti. F — Sheridan Joy Delfino and Veancy Palad

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related Posts

Contact Us