Patheos blog
Nov. 30, 2019
By Val Wilde
Over the course of the past week, a CNN investigation has highlighted the moral bankruptcy of the Catholic Church’s hierarchy when it comes to protecting children from pedophile priests.
The situation is all the more galling because it involves the Salesians of Don Bosco, an order whose mission focuses particularly on justice for the young:
The Lord made it clear to Don Bosco that he was to direct his mission first and foremost to the young, especially to those who are poorer. We are called to the same mission and are aware of its supreme importance… With Don Bosco we reaffirm our preference for the young who are ‘poor, abandoned, and in danger’, those who have greater need of love and evangelisation, and we work especially in areas of greatest poverty.
Yet for nearly twenty years, the Salesians have been harboring a Belgian priest who has sexually abused multiple children, promoting him to increasingly important directorial positions within the organization. The Salesians have given him cover for disobeying court orders and allowed him greater access to vulnerable children.
In spite of a recent CNN news story detailing his crimes, the Salesians continue to shelter Father Luk Delft on a Church-owned property that shares its space with a summer camp for children.
The saga of Father Delft began when he confessed to molesting two boys at a Belgian boarding school where he worked as a dormitory monitor. The Salesians removed him from the school environment… but they also strongly discouraged the victims and their families from pressing charges by emphasizing the dire psychological impact of a court case.
Meanwhile, Delft got a transfer to another school under the stipulation that he must have “no direct pedagogical contact with young people,” a requirement that was ultimately not honored as he accompanied minors on a school trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2008.
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