Bishop Seane in shameful sex sandals

By Tsaone Basimanebotlhe
Monitor
August 11, 2017

http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?aid=70912&dir=2017/august/11

Reverend Valentine Seane’s alleged insatiable sexual needs are behind his sudden and seemingly unceremonious resignation as Bishop of Gaborone. Seane has been at the helm of the local chapter of the church for eight years.

This is according to letters written to the Holy See in Rome, Italy and Pretoria, South Africa this year. In a letter to Marc Cardinal Quellet in Rome written by Sisters of Calvary, Gaborone, they appealed that Eminence Archbishop Peter Wells had not acted on their grievances to date “while on the other hand, Bishop Seane continues to sexually abuse us”. Wells is the Vatican Apostolic Nunciature in Pretoria.

“Bishop Seane’s insatiable sexual needs are putting us at risk, more so that he does not use condoms, hence the urgent resolution of this matter (sic). The end result of his actions, we are in spiritual crisis of unending abortions,” the sisters wrote. They claimed that some of them are on the verge of resigning from sisterhood and are afraid that their congregation will die a natural death. Hence they appealed to Quellet to save them from this shameful misery.

“We submit that we are ready to testify before an enquiry against the abuse under reference. We are also determined to go public if the church is not willing to protect us!” Before they wrote to Rome, they appealed to Wells over Seane’s impropriety.

“We write to formally lodge a complaint against Bishop Seane’s verbal and sexual abuse on some of us… In every Diocesan event, our Bishop always publicly capitalises in belittling us (sic). He likes saying that we are lacking proper orientation in our formation.”

At times, they claimed, Seane would be blunt and say they were stupid. “Not only that, but also discredits our credentials as well as challenging our spirituality. Any assignment or job given to us in the Diocese, we are always taking a raw end and more often, we are fired for no apparent reasons with no respect nor benefits. For instance, some of us were fired for no apparent reason, at Ave Maria Pastoral Centre,” the sisters alleged.

In 2007, they elected a Superior General and during her reign, the former Superior General turned their religious congregation into a fertile ground for Seane’s sexual insatiable appetite.

“Put differently, our former Mother Superior created some of us and Bishop’s sex tools or toys. In most cases when Bishop undertakes a trip to South Africa, Mother Superior will instruct that he is either accompanied by a novice or young Sister.

“It should be noted; we have taken a vow of obedience and therefore would

not refuse Mother Superior’s instructions as we are bound by the vow. He will spend days in expensive hotels raping us. He will be telling us that he is untouchable. To add credence to our ordeal, one member of the Sisters of Calvary, who happens to be the Bishop’s girlfriend, is now in Rome studying there. She has been sent to Rome under questionable circumstances.”

They also claimed that the Bishop has institutionalised corruption and sexual abuse in the church. Thus, some of his friends, especially Stigmatine Priests are on the sexual high drive mode. “As a result of Bishop Seane’s impropriety, some of us have left the religious congregation. In the light of the above, we above, we are willing to testify before an enquiry regarding the above. We hope your office will do something about this appalling situation as we do not want to go public about this matter.”

In an August 8, 2017 press release, Seane said he was happy to be a Catholic Priest. He said he had offered dedicated service to God in the church, both in South Africa and Botswana.

“After prayer and reflection, I decided to step down from my present ministry of leadership of the Diocese of Gaborone for personal reasons.

I resigned from the position of being the Bishop of Gaborone. I am still a Catholic priest and Bishop. After some time, providence and the church will decide how best I can continue to serve the body of Christ; the church,” Seane wrote.

Mmegi has learnt that on Wednesday the priests came to the Christ the King Cathedral for briefing of Seane’s resignation by Bishop Boniface Setlalekgosi. It is understood that Seane was supposed to be there, but he did not attend. Contacted for comment, Vicar General, Father Andrew Makgetla said they were not aware of any complaints.

“We are surprised you are speaking of a letter of complaints given to the media while they were never brought here. Our statement remains the same as yesterday that he resigned for personal reasons.

We do not have any complaints about the Bishop.” Mmegi’s attempts to contact Wells failed as he was said to have gone to Rome. Bishop Seane was also not available for comment as all his mobile phones were off the whole day yesterday. Relevant authority at the Church could not tell where he was.