Child abuse
On 14 September 2018, Joep Dohmen, a journalist who has been providing coverage of child sexual abuse for some time, published in the Dutch newspaper NRC a list of 20 names of bishops and two cardinals “involved” in the reports on sexual abuse in the Netherlands. Four of them, who have since died, were accused of abusing minors, while sixteen others “allowed the transfer of paedophile priests who could have caused new victims elsewhere”, Dohmen reported. “Of course, whenever a priest who had committed abuse was appointed to another parish or diocese, the bishop was involved”, Daphne van Roosendaal, media officer at the secretariat of the Dutch Bishops’ Conference responsible for abuse-related issues, told SIR news agency. According to van Roosendaal, however, the NRC article “was quoted in other newspapers and the idea spread that the bishops ‘knew’ about the abuse cases, which was not always the case”, especially when a priest was transferred from one diocese to another. “This, however, can no longer happen today”, van Roosendaal said. Dohmen did not write anything new, but in the wake of the Pennsylvania Report, “I think he might have found it useful to provide Dutch readers with a list of the bishops” involved.
He might have based his article on “three sources: the Deetman investigation, called for by the Dutch Church; his own sources; and information from the “Meldpuntmisbruikrkk”, the Reporting Centre for Sexual Abuse, which was also established by the Bishops’ Conference. “The problem is that I cannot confirm his list of names”, because the cases reported to the Centre are not public and names are kept confidential. Daphne van Roosendaal also explained that “many of the cases reported date back to the 50s and 70s” and that “many of the bishops named and priests involved are now dead”. Moreover, it is worth noting that “all these cases have already been addressed and took place before 2010/2011, that is, before the entry into force of the new rules about the transfer of priests and the code of conduct for abuse prevention. Those people who “have already reported their cases to the ‘Reporting Centre’ got a chance to talk with the Church and receive support. At the Church’s request, investigations were launched, and they were offered financial compensation”. In the coming days, however, we will shed light on the list of names, van Roosendaal concluded: “It is important both for the Church and for the victims that the truth is established and that light is shed on everything that has happened in the Church”.
