On the matter of those defrocked priests: an excellent leading article in The Times today
Editorial, The Times, Wednesday, November 14, 2012
MOVING ON FROM CLERICAL ABUSE CASE
Everyone can breathe a sigh of relief that this court case is finally over.
Two former priests who have used every legal tool at their disposal to drag out a very sad episode will finally go to prison for abusing children in their care after an Appeals Court confirmed their convictions yesterday.
Godwin Scerri and Charles Pulis, formerly members of the Missionary Society of St Paul, were sentenced in August 2011 to five and six years’ imprisonment respectively for sexually abusing boys in their care at St Joseph Home in Santa Venera. However, rather than show contrition for what they had done, they chose to prolong the pain for their victims.
Their approach, though legally permissible, was not morally commendable – even if at the conclusion of the appeal yesterday the presiding judge found that the charges filed in relation to one of the victims against Mr Pulis was time-barred and that Mr Scerri was not guilty of abusing one of the boys from several who made allegations. Ultimately, this was of little consequence because Mr Justice David Scicluna felt it made no difference to the prison sentences they were handed by a magistrate last year.
The primary relief comes for the victims themselves. The incidents took place many years ago and all of them now are grown men, some with families of their own. But their psychological scars have been clearly visible throughout. These are the indelible marks that the former priests have left on these human beings.
For them it has been an intolerable struggle for justice. They first waited for years, as many victims do, to speak out. And when they did, they were mistreated by the justice system.
It is a hugely embarrassing fact that this criminal case took almost a decade to reach its conclusion.
The Church itself has not emerged well from the scandal either.
Its Response Team, tasked with dealing with such cases, proved woefully inadequate and it took the intervention of the Vatican’s chief prosecutor, Mgr Charles Scicluna, who is now Malta’s new Auxiliary Bishop, to move things along.
The time has now come not to forget – these things can never be forgotten – but to attempt to move forward.
With the judicial process now over – at least one would hope it is over – the ball is once again in the Church’s court to ensure that it treats the victims with the compassion they deserve.
Some of the victims have not always helped themselves with their aggressive utterances. However, the Church must make good on its promise to give them access to the board it has set up offering therapeutic services for victims of abuse by the clergy.
It should also ensure that they receive compensation and also continue to promote a culture in which it receives with compassion all those who come forward with allegations of abuse.
Mgr Scicluna can use his broad experience to help bring this about, while it behoves the rest of us to constantly bear in mind that the large majority of priests in our community do nothing but good.
There has, of course, been another loser in this terrible case and that is St Joseph’s home. It is often forgotten that this institution has done sterling work in the past and still does so today, caring for around a dozen children who have not got the opportunities in life enjoyed by many others. They should not be penalised because of the heinous acts that Mr Scerri and Mr Pulis have been found guilty of committing.
On the contrary, the public should support them more than ever.
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What I cannot understand, and please, somebody explain, will FINANCIAL compensation eliminate the hurt caused by the abuse?
I have a lurking feeling that asking for financial compensation, looks like making a profit out of an unfortunate case – which no money can rectify.
[Daphne – Would you say the same to somebody who had lost a limb while working due to negligence by his employer?]
Do not see the connection – they have not lost anything physically but they did pass through traumas for which the Church is ready to afford them all the therapautic services available. If they only accept compensation then it is quite obvious what they are after.
Financial compensation would be justified on the grounds of diminished earning power. The same argument does not apply to someone who refuses treatment for any disbility (actual or pretended) and demands cash instead.
Do watch this excellent documentary:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixS7CDR23Qw
It offers a glimpse of what these victims go through during the abuse, and through the rest of their lives.
It also features Msgr Scicluna at 44:30. “Remove them as a precautionary measure IMMEDIATELY! … The Holy See has a duty to bring Bishops to accountability.”
No doubt, he’s the right man for the job.
Even Cardinals lie to cover up. Very clearly documented.
Radical
Even the highest paid lawyer in the land couldn’t get them off.
I hope it was no win, no fee.
And yet, Fr Claude Sciberras remains a free man, simply because of some legal loophole or time-barring detail.
I cannot understand why some sectors of the media persist in refering to the convicted abusers as ”priests” when in fact , they are defrocked monks.
In the matter of compensation, one has to take in consideration the fact that the church financially supports a number of institutions including old people’s homes and orphanages. A good chunk of the population have deposits or mortgages in the church bank and then there is the question of the church schools.
One cannot stand by and watch these institutions crumble and several thousands of innocent third parties negatively affected, so that the abuse victims get their pound’s worth of flesh.
It might be good to recall that when their case made headline news thanks to Mr Lou Bondi, the victims were adamant in insisting that they were not interested in financial compensation but a public apology from the church authorities and the Pope Himself.
Tajba din: so, according to the Times, St Joseph’s Home should not be penalised (with which I agree), but the Church should be (by compensating the victims from money which the Church collects from its faithful). Ħalluna ngħixu bi kwietna.
A long time ago the Church had already offered to meet the expense of any treatment needed by these victims. Most significantly they refused. They are not interested in treatment. Perhaps they do not even need treatment. What they insist on is cash.
The Church cannot honestly divert the money contributed by its innocent followers to the award of any compensation demanded from it and not from the real culprits.That would be an immoral misappropriation of money contributed for other much needed religious purposes. Any compensation should be paid by the culprits themselves not by innocent co-religionists who have themselves suffered much persecution because of this abuse by a few individuals.
Any “compensation paid by the Church would, sooner rather than later, be misinterpreted as an admission that the Church was compliant with the paedophilia of a minority of errant priests. That is not true. The truth is that, in the great company of all youth organisations worldwide, the Church did not succeed to prevent the emergence of child abuse no matter where it transferred the culprits.
I have no opinion where compensation, if any is due, should come from.
But this idea that the Church should not be responsible for wrongdoings by workers in its employ is in stark contrast to what happens in civil society in general.
The very recent judgement on the unfair dismissal of a casual nurse landed him with a good pack of euros which will be paid not by the perpetrators of the dismissal but by the innocent tax-payers.
Needless to say, this is not a unique case.
Nobody seems to be arguing that this and similar compensation is “immoral misappropriation of money contributed for other much needed civil purposes” and that “any compensation should be paid by the culprits themselves not by innocent co-tax-payers”.
This compensation, as in all other similar cases, does not lead to misinterpretation, whether sooner or later, that the government is compliant with injustices by its executives.
If innocent tax-payers foot the bills, why should innocent followers be afforded special treatment?
Here starts the GOLDRUSH
In a short time we will hold the record of Priest accused of child abuse,
Come on boys,just try to remember whether a priest ever offered you sweets,etc.
Excellent article. However it seems that the victims are only interested in receiving monetary compensation. How will monetary compensation make them forget – and forgive – the harm that has been done to them?
[Daphne – They are not ONLY interested in that. How will monetary compensation ever help them forget? It won’t. Just like monetary compensation for the loss of a limb will not make you forget that you ever had one. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be compensated.]
This has nothing to do with losing a limb for which one should be compensated if it is due to negligence on the part of the employer.
What they have lost is not physical but they did go through traumas for which the Church has already offered therapeutic services.
If they do not accept these services and insist on compensation only, then it is obvious as to what they really want.
Another thing, although they went through the traumas for which they surely have my full sympathy, this did not preclude them from marrying and having children or am I going off the mark now.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20121114/local/unions-join-forces-against-austerity.445352
What does the teachers’ union representative have to say about austerity measures?
The members of his Union get three whole months of holidays with salaries fully paid, to say nothing of Form Five teachers whose scholastic year ends in February/March before the MATSEC exams commence?
Teachers in the rest of the EU are not so lucky.
The victims should be helped in kind, by the defrocked priests.
The responsibility lies squarely on them, I would rather say one of them.
From what I followed, I concluded that one of them is mentally unstable and should be in a mental hospital while the other deserved a harsher sentence. But that’s just my opinion or gut feeling.
Not all the victims are real victims; there are the ones who need a lot of help, and there are others who deserve a prison sentence because they abused other children who were under the care of St Joseph Home.
Videos were shown in court showing this abuse by one of the ‘victims’. Why was this abuse which was shown on video in court, not tackled also by the police?
Weren’t the kids who were stripped naked at the Cirkewwa summer camp on video, victims also? Is this abuse time barred?
The church must listen more to the people’s needs, be more tolerant, and more present in the young generation’s lives.
Agreed but parents should also be made responsible for the actions of their children.
We just cannot dump all our problems on the government or the church authorities.
If we bear children, it is our responsibility to monitor them besides seeing to their well-being. The word responsible seems to have been forgotten in today’s society.
What sort of basis for compensation is this decided by the court?
Why is the court liquidating the salary in respect of future years when the guy can find an alternative employment?
Shouldn’t the AG appeal this case?
On his Facebook:
“INZERTAJT LABURIST TAL-AZZAR………HAZBUNI GWEJJED……….HAZBU LI JISTAW JINTINIDAWNI………..HADU ZBALL. Grazzi hbieb tal messaggi……….qatt ma kelli daqsekk windows fuq il-laptop…………..INKOMPLU NISTENNEW BIS-SABAR.”
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20121114/local/former-nurse-awarded.445370
This is Malta. An inefficient CASUAL worker who was fired (wasn’t he a temporary worker?) because he was inefficient, was given a FULL TIME pay for work which he hasn’t yet done. He could even die in the interim and he will have been paid for those years of work beforehand.
Like all people who find themselves on the street with no work, ETC sends a letter to the person involved asking him if the reason for dismissal claimed by the employer is correct. It seems the magistrate did not know about the procedure.
From what I followed in the news, I understood that the nurse involved was told that Zammit Clapp Hospital didn’t write that he was dismissed on his ETC forms, so that it won’t spoil his employment record.
I expect the CGMO to file an appeal.
Totally out of order, I know. However, have you noticed the one non-news today that should have made the headlines?
Nobody in Malta bothered to strike. No union took to the streets to lament the dire situation of its members.
No professionals took to the streets because public funds have been exhausted. People have protested in neighbouring Italy, Greece, Germany, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium and other European countries.
I only saw people shopping and having lunch in Valletta today.
In other European capitals people were protesting (rightly and wrongly is quite beside the point) against what they perceived to be measures which are depriving them of their livelihoods.
It is also telling that not even the Union tried to organise some action (along the same lines, not some pathetic conference).
Had I not followed the matter on international news, I would not have known what was planned for today in Europe.
I really believe that this absolute silence is telling on how the Maltese really view their lives in Malta, more than any opinion poll.
Compensation given to somebody who lost a limb at the place of work is given for the disadvantage that one cannot earn the same amount of money as previously.
Another thing, if I were abused by a staff member whilst in employment, should the employer be made responsible?
[Daphne – I trust you are following the Jimmy Saville/BBC story. It’s all over the news.]