Boy’s ‘extraordinary Courage’ Helps Unmask Man of Cloth in Sexual Abuse Case

By Danny Petilla
Inquirer.net
December 26, 2018

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1067062/boys-extraordinary-courage-helps-unmask-man-of-cloth-in-sexual-abuse-case

ACCUSED American priest Kenneth Bernard Pius Hendricks inside Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Cathedral in Naval, Biliran, where he was arrested on Dec. 5. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

After years of being sexually abused by an American Roman Catholic priest, a 12-year-old boy is leading the fight against pedophilia in a remote village here where his older brother and many of their friends are also victims.

Police officials here said JVA (the boy’s alias in the criminal complaint) convinced his 22-year-old brother, known in the same complaint as CV, and several other former altar boys who are now of legal age to come out and charge the 77-year-old priest, Kenneth Bernard Pius Hendricks, of sexually abusing them for many years.

“The courage and bravery of this boy is extraordinary. He is the reason why we have this case,” said SPO3 Venus Abrigo, chief of the Women and Children Protection (WCP) desk of the Naval Police Station.

The boy, who is now in Grade 6 here, is said to idolize Coco Martin’s character in the popular television series “Ang Probinsyano.”

Years of shame

Police say the minor is doing his best to break free from years of shame, guilt and trauma.

“This boy brought down his family’s wall of silence regarding his abuse and defied his church,” added Abrigo, who claimed that JVA and CV had stopped attending St. Isidore the Worker Chapel at Talustosan village, where they assisted Hendricks for many years as altar boys.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, which has jurisdiction over Hendricks, has not commented on the scandal since his arrest here on Dec. 5 by Philippine and American law enforcement officers.

Instead of ministering to his parishioners during the holidays, Hendricks spent Christmas in an immigration jail at Bicutan as Philippine and American officials wrangled over jurisdiction.

The diocese of Naval, which has sheltered Hendricks for 37 years, has imposed a news blackout on the case, deciding not to comment to the media while conducting its own investigation.