By Paul Van Der Steen
NRC Handelsblad
May 5, 2009
http://www.nrc.nl/international/article2233198.ece/Sex_scandal_haunts_Catholic_church_in_the_Netherlands
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| The church in Gulpen Photo by Chris Keulen |
The late Catholic priest Joep Haffmans upheld strict rules for everybody in Gulpen except himself: he embezzled money for the poor and had a string of girlfriends. Now one of them is suing the diocese of Roermond for compensation.
On a recent Sunday the church in Gulpen, in the south of the Netherlands, was attended by less than 50 believers. The empty chairs were not explained by secularisation alone. In Gulpen, the church has been tainted by what has become known as the "Haffmans case".
Joep Haffmans, the last dean of the church, appeared to be a man of strict rules when he was appointed dean of Gulpen parish in 1984. But his personal lifestyle soon raised eyebrows among his flock: the priest drove fancy cars, wore smart outfits and, according to some villagers, had lots of girlfriends.
In 2006, he was reported to the police by an ex-girlfriend who said she had a relationship with Haffmans for years and that he locked her in a sauna, held her under water, kicked her and threatened her. She also claimed he had embezzled tons of money from the local fund for the poor.
Articles in local newspapers stirred up commotion in the village of 3,600. There was outrage about the allegations, but also about the hypocrisy of a priest who was known for telling other people how to live their lives according to a strict interpretation of the Catholic faith. On top of that, there was anger at the diocese, which knew about the abuse but never acted on it. The ex-girlfriend, it turned out, was not by far the only one to have complained about Haffmans.
Sexually transmitted disease
The woman who pressed charges came into contact with the dean when he refused to administer her communion because she was divorced. She approached him to discuss the issue and they became friends and then lovers. In 1998 she contracted a sexually transmitted disease, and subsequently learned about the dean's other affairs. The priest gave her an almost pastoral excuse: the women he dealt with were not the most attractive and this way at least they were getting some.
The woman also found out that the dean owed his luxurious lifestyle not thank to the "goodness of his family" but to the plundering of money from the church fund for the poor in Gulpen. Huge sums of money from the fund had been wired to accounts in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Spanish island Tenerife.
For years the woman tried to get the church to step in and when it failed to do so, she took the case to court.
The case seemed to be over when the accused died of a heart attack in 2007. The quest for the estimated 1.8 million euros he allegedly embezzled continued, but the criminal trial against Haffman ended with his death. "Haffmans has arrived at our Father in heaven. Only he can judge him now," the bishop of Roermond, Frans Wiertz, said at the time.
Now, Nino Pennino, the lawyer for Haffman's ex-girlfriend, wants to try and hold the diocese responsible for the damages suffered by the woman. "As Haffman's employer, the diocese had a social responsibility," Pennino says. "My client has been harmed severely because it failed to do so. As a whistleblower she has been cast out by the village. She has lost her job and has been declared 100 percent disabled."
Since last fall, the district court in Maastricht has taken provisional witness testimonies in the case. "The gate to a possible trial," according to Pennino. "Civil procedures allow for tests to see if all the evidence can be gathered."
Bishop's court testimony
On Monday, bishop Wiertz showed up to testify in court. The main question was how Haffman could have continued his practices without Roermond noticing or interfering?
Wiertz said he first heard rumours about Haffmans dealings with money and women in the late 1990s, but that he was powerless to act on them. "I do not have the Swiss Guard of Scotland Yard at my disposal. Allegations came to me, but Haffmans denied them. That put an end to it. I can't go lie under beds and I don't have any experience in accounting."
The bishop said Haffmans admitted to objectionable behaviour in relation to the fund the he managed as dean, "but I was under the impression that is was a small fund of around 10,000 euros, something he would be able to pay back."
Wiertz told the court he had not realise the extent of the fraud until the 2006 report and subsequent investigation. "In hindsight it is a chutzpah that I did not demand to see the books. Just before his death he admitted to having lied to me the entire time."
Reporting the dean to the police himself was not an option, the bishop told the court. "When a bishop reports on one of his priest, it is tantamount to a public execution."
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