DILI (EAST TIMOR)
Catholic News Service
February 4, 2019
By Michael Sainsbury
After accusations of sex abuse, the Vatican has laicized American Richard Daschbach, a former Divine Word missionary who ran orphanages in East Timor for 27 years.
Accusations surfaced early in 2018 that Daschbach, who arrived in the country in 1966, had been sexually abusing young girls who were in his care in the enclave of Oecusse, which sits separate of the rest of East Timor and is surrounded by Indonesian territory.
The case is now under investigation by local police.
Fr. Jovito Rego de Jesus Araujo, episcopal vicar for pastoral care in the Diocese of Dili, told Catholic News Service that this is the first time a case of sexual abuse of minors by a member of the Catholic clergy has come to light in East Timor.
Divine Word Fr. Yohanes Suban Gapun, the order’s Dili-based regional superior, told Tempotimor.com: “In the orphanage of Kutet, girls were allegedly sexually abused by Daschbach.”
The two orphanages in Oecusse are currently home to about 120 children, and hundreds more have passed through their doors over the years.
Gapun said that in early 2018, the Vatican received the accusations. In March, the order sent Gapun to Oecusse to return Daschbach to Dili.
The former priest resisted for several days, Gapun said. He was suspended and forbidden to perform his priestly celebrations while the order conducted its investigation on behalf of the Vatican. The police were informed shortly afterward.
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