The bitter pill of truth

The courage to follow the policy of transparency by publishing, also online, the shocking data contained in the Report of the Commission of inquiry into the sexual abuse committed in a pastoral relation; and the decision not to abandon the work of denunciation and support for the victims hitherto undertaken by creating a new centre after the resignation of the Adriaessens Commission: that, in a nutshell, is how the Belgian episcopacy is responding to the scandal of abuses which has sent shock waves through the Church in recent months. Pope Benedict XVI too is following with “great sorrow” the story that is gradually unfolding in Belgium. Father Federico Lombardi, the Pope’s spokesman, said so in Rome in a statement to the RTL-TVI private television channel in Belgium. This report – he said – “reveals once again the immense suffering of the victims and gives us an even more shocking insight into the gravity of these crimes”. The Report. It contains testimonies that epitomise the suffering of hundreds of youngsters who have been abused and betrayed. The report of the Commission set up by the Church to examine the cases of sexual abuse on children in Belgium, together with all the dossiers that the public prosecutor’s office in Brussels had seized at the end of June, is now accessible on the Internet. On 28 June the commission had resigned en masse. Professor Adriaenssens, professor at the Catholic University of Louvain, had thrown in the towel after the investigations conducted by the judicial authorities and, in particular, after a search warrant had been served on and documents seized by the police at the archbishop’s residence in Mechelen, at the Adriaenssens Commission itself and at the private home of the former Primate of Belgium, Cardinal Godfried Danneel; this had led to the seizure of 475 dossiers on denunciations of sexual abuse committed by priests. “We were used as a bait”, Adriaenssens had declared in sorrow in tendering his resignation, and all the members of the Commission followed suit. The report of the Commission indicates that between January and June 2010 it had received 465 denunciations of cases of paedophilia committed between the early 1950s and the end of the 1980s by ecclesiastical exponents, but also by teachers of religion or accompaniers of youth movements. The report runs to 200 pages. It contains 124 anonymous testimonies of the “survivors” of sexual abuse. It emphasises that “the majority of victims were aged around 12”, but that “one victim was only two years’ old, five were aged 4, eight were 5, and ten 7′”. According to the checks conducted by the Commission, 102 of the abuses were committed by members of one of the 29 religious congregations present in Belgium.Maximum help for the victims. Immediately after the publication of the Report, the Belgian bishops held a press conference at which they announced their decision to establish a “Centre for the recognition, healing, rehabilitation and reconciliation” of the victims of abuses committed by members of the Church. The announcement was made by the Archbishop of Malines-Bruxelles, Joseph Léonard, together with Bishop Harpigny of Tournai and Bishop Bonny of Antwerp. The bishops repeated how shocked they were by the testimonies of the victims contained in and published by the Adriaenssens Report. “We find ourselves faced by something that should never have happened. The victims therefore deserve our deepest sympathy and the greatest attention to the human tragedy that has taken place”. And the bishops added: “We wish to devote ourselves to the victims with all the help of which we are capable”. In expressing their awareness that “it is impossible to wipe out such traumatic experiences”, the bishops say they are also conscious of the fact that “whenever the victims of a sexual abuse come to light, they also give rise to needs and hopes” to which a response needs to be given. A courageous step. This has led in turn to the decision to open a new counselling centre able to help the victims and respond to their “primordial need” for “healing and recognition, psychological accompaniment and support”. The bishops then stressed their determination to continue in their pledge to collaborate in an “honest and upright” way with the judicial authorities, while at the same time recalling that “canon law provides particular procedures for such heinous offences as sexual abuse committed in a pastoral relation”. “The victims – say the Belgian bishops – have always asked us to listen to what happened to them. And they have also asked to be personally involved in the planning of new measures. This desire is justified. And it deserves all our attention”. Meanwhile four experts are already working on the setting up of the new centre. They will also have the task of examining “through whom and how questions of a financial nature will be treated”. In presenting the new initiative, the bishops once again pressed for the return of the dossiers seized by the police from the Adriaenssens Commission on 24 June. And they concluded: “We wish and feel it is our duty to reconcile ourselves with the past. We have given proof of courage by permitting the Adriaenssens Commission to complete its work and publish its conclusions. However painful, we have taken a great step forward”.