INDIA
Deccan Chronicle
COLUMNIST | FLAVIA AGNES
Published May 13, 2016
The ‘zero tolerance on sexual abuse’ policy has been adopted by the Roman Catholic Church in India.
Sexual abuse of women and children by spiritual gurus and swamis is not uncommon in India. Most involve long-term abuse of young women, which started when they were minors. It takes a long time for victims to speak up and press charges. However, when abuse of vulnerable children and women takes place within a well-respected and institutionalised religion such as the Roman Catholic Church, it becomes even more difficult to accept. Since we constantly read about churches getting burnt and priests being attacked, there is a constant anxiety that writing on this issue may be cited out of context for all the wrong reasons. Add to this my own religious affiliations, and the task becomes even more daunting. But the extreme vulnerability of the victims, and the attitude of the Church hierarchy of sweeping it under the carpet, compels me to write.
Within a strictly defined institutional religion, where the power is bestowed upon the priests and the clergy through a well-demarcated hierarchy, the abuse of vulnerable victims cannot be dismissed as the abuse by “self-styled godmen” as it is entrenched deep within institutional structures. Within the Roman Catholic Church, the priest is regarded as the representative of Jesus Christ and is held in high regard. The unbridled power, both spiritual and material, that priests have is almost unparalleled. The oath of celibacy, which a Catholic priest is mandated to abide by, makes the situation even more complex for the victim.
Usually the victims suffer from multiple levels of vulnerabilities, including poverty, physical ailments, family problems and even depression. Most are deeply entrenched in their religious beliefs and take the concerned priest as their spiritual guide. The gullible victims are lured either by projecting the spiritual benefits of the sexual act by God’s representative on earth will bestow upon them, or with a promise of material comforts and economic help. The pattern, by now, is very familiar.
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