Church in the Dock Again

By K.P.M. Basheer
The Hindu
March 2, 2017

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/church-in-the-dock-again/article17391387.ece

While the Catholic faithful in Kerala have been rattled by the arrest of a priest for raping and impregnating a minor girl, Church rebels and those in the know of things allege that the Kottiyoor incident is but just the tip of the iceberg.

Four former Church officials — three men and a woman, of whom two wished to remain anonymous — The Hindu spoke to claimed that Kottiyoor was only a sneak peek into the sexual abuse going on within the Church establishment. They also accused Church authorities of using their clout to keep mouths shut.

“If, in spite of all the clout, wealth and secrecy of the Church, the Kottiyoor incident came out into the open, you can imagine the extent of sexual abuse going on,” Sister Jesme, former Principal of St. Mary’s College, Thrissur, who left the Congregation of Mother Carmelite after serving it for 33 years, told The Hindu . Sister Jesme has, in her book Amen: The Autobiography of a Nun, revealed the murky goings-on within the Church establishment, the sexual abuse of nuns by priests and the wayward nature of bishops.

Nun abused

“I know of an incident in Kozhikode early last year,” Sister Jesme said, “a Catholic nun was impregnated by a priest. After the childbirth, the baby was separated from her and she was packed off to an unknown place. The man still continues to be a priest.”

“Sexual exploitation of the faithful as well as nuns is inbuilt in the Kerala Church system,” alleges George Pulikuthiyil, executive director of the Thrissur-based Jananeethi, who was ousted from his priesthood after serving the Church for 25 years. “Because of the priests’ spiritual and temporal clouts, rarely do the faithful complain of sexual abuse by them.”

Another former priest pointed out that Pope Francis had in a letter to all Bishops on December 28 last talked of “zero tolerance” to predator priests. Later on, he had warned that bishops who suppressed instances of sexual abuse by priests could even be removed from their posts.

But in Kerala, bishops use their wealth and clout to cover up sexual abuse, rape and sexual exploitation of the faithful by the priests. Both Sister Jesme and George Pulikuthiyil claimed that the Mananthavady bishop was well aware of the rape of the minor girl by Robin Vadakkancheril. “The bishop needs to be prosecuted for the cover-up and for helping the priest to trying to escape to Canada.”

However, Jimmy Poochakkattil, spokesperson for the Syro-Malabar Synod of Bishops, told The Hindu that the bishop had no previous information about the incident.