CONFESSION AND PRIESTS
When a person
confesses his sins to a priest, a very sacred sacramental seal is formed.
Breaking this seal by the priest even to save his own life or that of another
person or to aid the course of justice is treated as a grave sin by the Canon
Law applicable to the Christians across the world.A priest in Kerala committed
this sin that amounts to criminal offence under the civil law by using the
confession of a married woman to sexually exploit her and to present her to his
fellow priests by sharing the details of the confession with them, according to
the complaint of the woman's husband.
The man, a member of
Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church, one of the most ancient churches, filed the
complaint before the Church authorities after his wife narrated her ordeal
following discovery of a five-star hotel bill in her email box. The incident
came to light after his telephonic conversation with a church official got
leaked and found its way to the social media, rocking the two-million strong
church with 30 dioceses, including seven in other Indian states and three
abroad.According to the audio clip that has been widely circulated on social
media, the woman confessed about her relationship with another priest before
her marriage. The complaint said that the series of rape incidents began after
the confession which was made during their daughter's baptism.
The man alleged that
the priest had shared the confession with, at least, five to eight priests, who
used them to blackmail and sexually exploit her. Church head, Catholicos Baselios
Marthoma Paulose II, has removed five priests, including one from Delhi,
mentioned in the complaint from their official duties pending inquiry.Church
spokesman P C Elias said that the Church will hand over the complaint to the
police if the allegations were found true. He said that a thorough
investigation was required to ascertain the veracity of the allegations as some
of them were very old.The woman’s husband has not filed a complaint with the
police so far. He said in his audio clip that he was expecting the Church
authorities to take action against the priests involved in the sexual
exploitation. He wants the accused priests to be defrocked and removed from the
church.
However, senior
officials of the Church have taken the allegations with a pinch of salt. Church
managing committee chairman Father Mathew Abraham said the complainant had
crossed swords with the Church on several occasions in the past. “Once he
created a scene in his parish committee meeting and tried to assault a priest.
Other members of the parish had condemned his action and isolated him from the
community. He may be trying to take revenge by raising baseless allegations against
the priests,” Mathew said.He said that it was difficult to believe that priests
will take women to star hotels for sex. "It is not easy for anybody to do
such things in star hotels which are under 24x7 CCTV surveillance. If any one
of the priests accused by the complainant has taken his wife to the five-star
hotel, it can be confirmed from the CCTV footage,” he added.
Moreover, Mathew
doubts whether any priest will break the seal of confession as his Church
considers it as inviolable. He said that the present incident may be the first
case of breaking the seal of confession since the origin of the Church in the
evangelical activity of St Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century.“All our
priests realise the sanctity of the Sacrament of Penance. I don’t think anyone
will do anything to break it. Moreover, most of our priests are living with
families, maintaining high standards of Christian life,” the priest added. He
also feels that the allegation could be part of attempts by a lobby trying to
disrupt the reputation of the Church, which is involved in a legal battle with
the rival Jacobite faction over the control of churches and their properties
for nearly a century now.However, the senior church official said that they
will take the allegations seriously and asserted that exemplary punishment
would be given to the priests if they have done anything wrong.But church
activists doubt it. Joemon Puthenpurackkal, who has been spearheading a
campaign to bring to book two priests and a nun accused in a sex-related murder
case for more than two-and-a-half decades, said that the Church had a long
history of protecting the accused clergy.
He said he is still
pursuing the case related to the murder of Sister Abhaya at a convent in
Kottayam in March 1992 which is still pending in the trial court because of the
Church attempting to protect the clergy involved in the case. He said that
another minor girl was raped by a Catholic priest at Kottiyoor in Kannur
district. Multiple institutions under the Church had sprung into action to
shield Robin Vadakkancherry after the 17-year-old girl gave birth to a child."Sexual
abuse cases involving the clergy are on the rise in Kerala. This is because the
church is protecting the guilty. If Church officials stop this and take stern
and timely action against the guilty, such cases will come down,"
Puthenpurackal said.There has been a string of sexual assault cases involving
clergymen in the state in the recent years. The latest in the series is the
rape of a 42-year-old Bangladeshi native by a Catholic priest from Pala diocese
in Kottayaam district.The accused, Father Thomas Thanninilkumthadathil, had
gone into hiding after the police registered a case against him following the
woman’s complaint. The priest, vicar of St Mathew’s Church Perumthuruth near
Kaduthuruthy surrendered before the police, following a huge public uproar in
the social media.
Another Catholic
priest from Thrissur had tried to escape similarly after raping a nine-year-old
girl, who was attending classes for the Holy Communion, in 2014. Father Raju
Kokken, vicar of the St. Paul’s Church at Thaikkattuserry, was later arrested
and the case is now in a court in Thrissur.In 2013, Father Arokiaraj, a priest
at the St Stanislaus Church in Palakkad, had raped and killed 17-year-old
Fatima. The priest, who confessed that he had sexually abused the victim, was
dismissed from the church but the incident was not reported to the police. In
December last year, a special court in Ernakulam awarded double life term to Fr
Edwin Figarez on charges of raping a 14-year-old several times between January
to March 2015 in the priest’s home at the Puthenvelikkara Church in Thrissur
district.Joemon said that the cases had come to light because of social media.
Earlier, such cases were suppressed by the Church by exploiting the religious
sentiments of the faithful, the human rights activist said.
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