False Churches, False Brethren, False Gospels
Priest sex abuse linked to 13 suicides in Belgium
By RAF CASERT
The Associated Press
Friday, September 10, 2010; 12:13 PM
BRUSSELS -- Hundreds of sex abuse victims have come forward in Belgium
with harrowing accounts of molestation by Catholic clergy that
reportedly led to at least 13 suicides and affected children as young
as two, a special commission said Friday.
Professor Peter Adriaenssens, chairman of the commission, said the
abuse in Belgium may have been even more rampant than the 200-page
report suggests.
"Reality is worse than what we present here today because not everyone
shares such things automatically in a first contact with the
commission," he told reporters.
Adriaenssens, a child psychiatrist who has worked with trauma victims
for 23 years, said nothing had prepared him for the stories of abuse
that blighted the lives of victims.
"We don't just talk about touching. We are talking about oral and anal
abuse, forced masturbation and mutual masturbation. We talk about
people who have gone through serious abuse," Adriaenssens said.
Most of the abuse happened during the 1960s and 1970s, he said.
The Roman Catholic Church in Belgium experienced the findings as "a
body blow," Adriaenssens said.
Belgian Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard said he would react on Monday
to the report. The Vatican had no immediate comment.
But Tournai Bishop Guy Harpigny, who deals with the issue for the
church, praised Adriaenssens's work and told VRT television that "now,
the time has come to listen to the victims."
The report's findings are the latest embarrassment for Belgium's
Catholic Church, which is still reeling after the April resignation of
Bruges Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, who admitted to having sexually abused
a nephew for years when he was a priest and bishop.
Friday's report said 507 witnesses came forward with stories of
molestation at the hands of clergy over the past decades. It says those
abused included children who were two, four, five and six years old.
Family members or friends said 13 victims committed suicide that "was
related to sexual abuse by clergy," the report said. Six other
witnesses said they had attempted suicide.
"It is notable how often one issue comes back in the witness reports:
the high number of suicides," the report said.
The number of those coming forward with their stories and testimonies,
however, could be only a fraction of those actually abused,
Adriaenssens said. He added several priests cooperated with the panel,
which had the support of the Belgian church.
"We saw how priests, called up by the commission and asked to help seek
the truth, were willing to set up the list of 10, 15, 20 victims they
abused during boarding school while the commission knew only of one,"
he said.
Archbishop Leonard, who was appointed earlier this year, said he will
come forward with a new initiative Monday on how to deal with cases of
abuse, prevent further abuse and help victims seek closure.
His spokesman Jurgen Mettepenningen said the archbishop didn't comment
Friday so as not to distract attention from the report's contents.
Leonard's predecessor, Cardinal Godfried Danneels, acknowledged
Wednesday that damage control often took precedence in Belgium over
concerns for victims in sexual abuse cases involving clergy.
The crisis in the Belgian church was exacerbated last month, when
secret tapes were published of Danneels speaking with the man whom
Vangheluwe abused and suggesting a cover-up until Vangheluwe was to
retire in 2011. Danneels said Wednesday he should have asked Vangheluwe
to resign immediately.