See responses below. George --- Aires Rodrigues <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > After the details of the Ribandar Church molestation case were made public > I have received a lot of written and oral complaints about grave sexual and > financial improprieties going on in other Parishes across Goa. I requested > that all these complaints be sent directly to the Archbishop's palace.
Given the lack of response from the Archbishop's house, what is the next step for victims? In the USA, there is a Survivor Network of Abused Priests, see http://www.snapnetwork.org/. Perhaps, there should be a meeting of similar cases in Goa, although I fully recognize the shame people may have in coming forward and the fear of not being supported publicly, especially by a laity complicit by its silence (including most cybergoan Catholics). Perhaps some of the Goan priests/nuns on this forum will have the courage to speak out assuming they will not suffer any retribution by their Catholic orders or teaching institutions they might be affliated with. > As you know the Church is very powerful and unresponsive to the people's > pulse. Till date > instead of attempting to fix the problem the Church seems to do > everything possible to cover its unholy acts. And for this they shrewdly use > the services of a cotorie of some wise lay people that evolves around the > Church to do the dirty job of damage control. In the USA, after the initial denial, stonewalling, burying-the-head-in-the-sand and sweep-under-the-carpet approach, the Church was forced by legal claims to come clean. It has cost the US Catholic church over a billion dollars to settle claims and counting, over 11,000 claims of sexual abuse have been reported, at least 3 dioceses are in bankruptcy and counting, and several parishes have been closed. Not to mention the negative publicity, etc. Perhaps the Goa Church might learn a lesson here? > I took up the Ribandar Church molestation issue after deep thought and > ascertaining all the facts. Before we went public on the issue I pleaded > with the Co-ordinator of our Ribandar Parish Council to call a open meeting > of all parishioners so that this issue could be discussed and the facts be > faced dead on. This they dared not do and expected that the truth could be > supressed and that they would be able to hush up the matter. You might recall the Irish singer Sinead O'Connor who found the church unresponsive in this matter about 10 years ago. She tore a picture of the Pope on US national television and took a lot of heat for it, including an adverse impact on her career. In retrospect, she was a prophet and needs to be commended. You are in a similar position and naturally the powerful and those who do not seek the truth will challenge you, including those who are defensive about the Catholic church (notice the silence of many cyberGoan Catholics). May justice prevail. Regards, George
