UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary
[with video]
August 8, 2017 Joelle Casteix
In February 2017, Al Jazeera’s 101 East produced this 25-minute documentary feature about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in the Philippines.
It’s a great primer for anyone interested in learning more about the clergy sexual abuse crisis in this VERY Catholic country.
Here’s a peek at what you’ll see:
* The Catholic Church in the Philippines is the strongest institution in the country, in many ways even stronger than the government.
* Victims who come forward to report abuse are met with intimidation and fear. One girl was beaten by her family for reporting. Even a lawyer for priests—men who are his friends—says that these matters are best handled “behind closed doors.” The only priest who was ever convicted for abuse soon found his conviction overturned.
* Sexually abusive priests are transferred from parish to parish, without church leaders informing local Catholics that the man leading Mass has admitted to molesting children.
* According to Fr. Jaime Achacoso, the secretary for the Canon Law Society of the Philippines, in many dioceses, 1 in 5 priests have fathered children.
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