By Raynah Braganza Passanha

Pune, Jan 17, 2022: During an address at Dublin Castle on August 18, 2018, Pope Francis said, “The failure of ecclesiastical authorities — bishops, religious superiors, priests and others — adequately to address these appalling crimes has rightly given rise to outrage and remains a source of pain and shame for the Catholic community. I myself share those sentiments.”

Cardinal Oswald Gracias, one of the organizers of the Bishops’ Meeting held in Vatican City on ‘The Protection of Minors in the Church”, in February 2019, made a presentation on February 22 to the bishops on ‘Accountability in a Collegial and Synodal Church’ in which he stated,

“…the entire Church must take an honest look, undertake rigorous discernment, and then act decisively to prevent abuse from occurring in the future and to do whatever possible to foster healing for victims…. We need to acknowledge first of all the fact of sexual abuse, we need to acknowledge the inadequacy of preventive measures, we need to ask pardon for this. We need to commit ourselves resolutely to take steps that this will never happen in the Church again, that we have a Church that is free from the sexual abuse of minors. … It should never be, because we in leadership roles did not do enough.”

Despite the above powerful statements by the highest authorities of the Catholic Church, it is deeply distressing that their sincerity was not manifested in the Church’s handling of the abuse case of the minor that was ongoing at that time in the Indian Courts and reached only at the end of 2021 with the priest being sentenced to life imprisonment for his crime. Even more shocking is the fact that the case being in Mumbai, under the jurisdiction of Cardinal Oswald Gracias himself who was approached by the boy’s parents on the day of the abuse, did not respond immediately by reporting it to the police, instead he delegated follow-up of the case as he was leaving for Rome, to a fellow bishop who also did not act immediately.

The fact that the vulnerable, traumatized minor was left denied of any form of consolation or assistance from leaders of the Church (though they claim otherwise), is shocking and painful, leaders, who are meant to transmit the healing touch of Christ to the wounded and suffering. Instead, the Church authorities are known to have extended support to the accused, while the abused minor was subjected to a grueling interview, all alone, as if he were the one guilty of a crime.

It of great concern how the Church in India addresses complaints of abuse against clergy especially in the light of the several cases of abuse of minors and vulnerable adults surfacing across the country in the secular and religious media. The extent of abuse against religious women was highlighted in a study conducted by the western region CRI [Catholic Religious of India] and published in a book, “It’s High Time”. The gravity of the need for authorities of congregations and leaders of the Church to acknowledge and address this more transparently and with greater responsibility was underscored during the 16 days of activism against violence by ‘Voices of Faith’ on their YouTube channel, in the series of testimonies by religious sisters speaking of the painful experiences and abuse they face in their congregations and by the clergy.

The indifference of the Church leadership in naming the crime, failing to reach out to the victims the lack of transparency, apparent irresponsibility and lack of accountability is painful. Lack of action in the cases is shockingly excused – Pontius Pilate style, by casually stating that the case is sub-judice and so they cannot intervene; this while openly shielding the abusers, allowing them to retain their position and titles, and shrouding the abuse in a veil of secrecy. The trauma of the survivor is minimized and ignored.

The pattern the leadership uses to address cases of abuse highlights the failure of the Church to be a listening Church that is called to witness Christ, his words and his actions:

• The abusers across the country are reportedly transferred or given sabbaticals before being placed in new parishes on complaints being received.
• No public caution is issued when abusers are placed in new parishes to warn unsuspecting faithful, leaving them vulnerable and easy targets for future abuse. The exposing of the faithful to predators shows that protection of the vulnerable is apparently not a priority.
• While a few cases are investigated by teams …. Their report is kept secret and sent to Vatican for decision, of which we are yet to hear the outcomes.
• False allegations are made that victims/survivors were denied some privilege by the accused and so resort to revenge by claiming abuse.
• Victims/Survivors are not listened to, but encouraged not to pursue the case to avoid adverse effect on themselves.
• Harassment of victims/survivors by the supporters of the clergy when they continue to pursue the case. They are ostracized in their communities, isolated and struggle on their own with their limited resources to deal with their trauma and loss of dignity and justice.

State laws take precedence over Canon law and State laws are contravened by Church leadership in the cases of abuse by clergy:

– The POCSO law necessitates that on learning of a case of abuse
o The police have to be informed immediately and they alone can conduct the investigation.
o The minor has to be assisted to get justice in the State courts
o In the investigation, the minor has to always be accompanied by an adult in whose presence s/he is at ease and in a place where s/he feels comfortable. [The minor in the Mumbai case was grilled alone by the investigation team for 8 hours]

In May 2021, Pope Francis broadened the Roman Catholic Church’s definition of sexual abuse by revising its penal code to explicitly acknowledge that vulnerable adults, and not only children, can be victimized by priests and powerful laypeople who abuse their offices.

The way cases of abuse of women, mostly sisters, are addressed by the Church leadership is again in contravention of the Sexual Harassment at Workplace: Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal Act, 2013

Every institution is mandated by the law to have an Internal Complaints Committee [ICC] to investigate cases and its composition is clearly stipulated in the law [50% women, presiding officer – a woman, etc]. Details of the members of this ICC are to be made known to the employees or those availing services of the institution. The Church leadership has failed to meet this requirement of putting ICCs in place.

It is shocking how the larger Catholic community fails to be sensitive to the pain of our children and religious sisters and other vulnerable women undergoing abuse. They choose to turn a deaf ear to their cries and a blind eye to the evidence of the abuse under the pretext of ‘protecting the name of the priest/Church.

Our Catholic community forgets that it is our primary calling to be the compassionate face of Christ to bring healing and justice to the abused in our communities. We chose silence instead and blame the victims! By our silence we are complicit in the spread of this evil.

This period of the Synod Process 2021-2023 is an opportunity to take seriously the call to mutual listening, sharing, support and accompaniment towards renewal so that we may truly witness Christ. The Church leadership has failed, and as a community, so have we! We must take up the challenge to renew the Church together, for we are accountable and responsible for the spread of God’s reign of justice, peace and love. Justice delayed is justice denied. Justice must be seen, to be done.