Expose priests' abuses vs. children
Published in TODAY (13 May 2002)
CATHOLICS and people of all faiths are shocked and
scandalized by the appalling revelations involving pedophile priests and the
covering up of their crimes against children by some members of the Church
hierarchy in different countries by reassigning priests and buying the
silence of the victims.
The Pope has spoken and declared that there is no place in the Church for
priests or religious who abuse children. It is rightly considered a crime by
society and an appalling sin in the eyes of God, he said in Rome last week.
In a meeting with American cardinals summoned to answer for the shocking
history of abuse and cover-up, the Pope expressed a "profound sense of
solidarity and concern," with the victims and heir families.
This is the crux of the scandals; First, not only have some priests with moral
ascendancy over weak and defenseless children abused them but also some
Church authorities turned the other and put the image of the institutional
church before the suffering and trauma of child victims. The children were
given no voice or justice, their silence was frequently bought. The
self-sacrificing and upright laity, clergy and religious feel tainted and
are rightly outraged at this neglect of the victims and the self-serving
cover-up of crimes against children.
Many who have been driven to suicide were sexually abused as children by some
priests.
This scandal engulfing the bureaucracy of the Church is not making Catholic's
faith any weaker, according to surveys in the United States, but it is
galvanizing them to action. It is the Catholic laity who has taken up the
tom and fallen flag of moral leadership and rallied victims and parents and
clergy to speak out for justice for children. They are calling for
fundamental changes in Church policy and procedures for dealing with
criminal clergy. That faith in the redemptive power of divine justice has
given God's people the courage and strength to break years of inculcated
submissiveness. The Pope has made it clear that clergy, if proved to be
child abusers, will be defrocked, and rightly so, the sooner the better.
Here in Zarnbales, the faithful cannot understanding why the bishop, supported
by some members of the clergy, testified a few weeks ago in court to support
a convicted Australian pedophile and a diocesan priest paid bail for the
pedophile's temporary release from prison. It indicated a failure to
recognize that victims of child abuse ought to be the primary concern of the
Church, not the perpetrators.
The freedom to complain and protest is the most fundamental human right and it
has to be exercised no matter who is involved. The child victim must be
helped to tell his or her story without fear of Retaliation and be given
protection and therapy. The victims must be helped to recover and then to
pursue justice and end the cycle of abuse by the perpetrators. Adults,
journalists and defenders of children have a duty before God and our
conscience and society to expose crimes against children even if others are
shamed, exposed and punished. No one is above the law, especially those with
moral ascendancy over children. To look the other way is to condone and even
be a coconspirator with the abusers and their protectors.
FR. SHAY CULLEN
Children's Rights Center
PREDA Foundation
Olongapo City
