Faith must challenge child abuse in Church and State, 2

BY FR. SHAY CULLEN

THE CATHOLIC Church in Guam is facing the painful truth and paying for it. Vatican investigators ordered by Pope Francis uncovered in 2019 that as many as 220 child abuse victims, boy scouts, altar boys and students, were sexually abused by at least 35 identified credibly accused priests, teachers and scout masters of the Archdiocese of Agaña. For sure, many more were undetected.

The Vatican investigators of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith found that the former archbishop, Anthony Apuron, 73, was guilty of several child sex abuse allegations committed when he was a parish priest. He denied the charges and appealed the verdict but the original guilty verdict was upheld and he received a severe sentence but will not be charged in court.

The archdiocese has refused to release the names of the accused priests and is trying to reach out-of-court settlements with the victims. It is likely to cost US$115M and the archdiocese has declared bankruptcy, according to an AP report. It has to sell its properties to pay the compensation.

This is the main fear for the Philippine hierarchical church represented by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) if the clerical child abuse scandal becomes public and victims fight back for justice. Many priests will go to jail and big compensation must be paid to the victims.

The Philippine hierarchy is leading a campaign against a new law allowing divorce but are silent on child abuse because there are many accused pedophile priests active in dioceses. One bishop called them his “sons.” Many more are hiding out in the Church-funded Tagaytay rest house for clerical child abusers. They are hidden away by bishops from their victims when they should be in jail. The abusers are rightly scared of the millstone that Jesus said should be hung around their necks and they be thrown into the deep sea (Matthew 1-7) and held accountable before the courts.

Can this writer forget the time when his bishop and 23 fellow clergy signed an affidavit and letter that testified and gave support to a convicted Australian pedophile accusing me of having falsely accused him? There are too many pedophiles and their protectors and defenders and too few child defenders among the clergy and bishops.

The People of God have many great and good true Catholics and Christians of all denominations who believe that Jesus of Nazareth taught by word and example and that Christianity is an active way of living and believing in action that goodness, truth, justice and love of neighbour will overcome evil and corruption in society.

These are the true disciples building a society by working together and individually to build a just and loving society. They are humble washers of feet, servants of the poor, friends of Jesus of Nazareth. They do as Jesus did and have the greatest love of giving their lives in service for the poor, the abused, the down-trodden, victims of human rights violations. As Jesus said, “No greater love can anyone have than to give their lives for their friends. I call you my friends, not servants.”

We all need to be “Washers of Feet” as was Jesus of Nazareth, not robed leaders of rites and rituals, pomp and ceremony. Besides, He said (Matthew 18.6), “Whoever accepts a child such as this in my name, accepts me.” (preda.org)/PN