Catholic Child abuse bishop disappears from French monastery
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Pastor Dale Morgan
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Apr 18, 2011, 4:25:46 AM4/18/11
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False
Churches, False Brethren, False Gospels
Catholic Child abuse bishop disappears from French monastery
A Belgian former bishop has disappeared from his French religious
community three days after he admitted to sexually abusing two of
his nephews, its leader said on Sunday.
Roger Vangheluwe confessed to having sex with his under age nephew
11:23PM BST 17 Apr 2011
The Telegraph UK
Roger Vangheluwe resigned as Bishop of Bruges last year after
confessing to having sex with his under age nephew, but was not
prosecuted as the crimes had taken place several years previously
before the statute of limitations.
Last week, he again caused outraged when he gave a television
interview in which he also admitted to molesting a second nephew
but insisted he did not consider himself a paedophile nor a threat
to children.
"How did it start?" Vangheluwe said in the interview. "As in all
families: when they came to visit, my nephews would stay over.
"It began as a kind of game with this boy. It was never a question
of rape, or physical violence. He never saw me naked and there was
no penetration.
"I don't in the slightest have any sense I am a paedophile. I
don't get the impression my nephew was opposed, quite the
contrary," he added although he also admitted: "I knew it wasn't
good, I confessed it several times."
After the first scandal, The Vatican ordered him to seek
"spiritual and psychological treatment" at a church community La
Ferte-Imbault in France, and to stay out of the public eye.
Following the interview, which outraged many in Belgium and drew a
sharp denunciation from the Council of Bishops, there were calls
for him to be prosecuted. But on Sunday it emerged that he had
gone.
"He left last night," the mother superior of the Brotherhood of
Jerusalem told AFP at the community. Asked where he had gone, she
said: "I don't know. We are referring all questions to the papal
nuncio's office in Belgium."
The case plunged the Belgian Catholic Church anew into turmoil,
with several bishops asking the Vatican to act quickly to punish
Vangheluwe.
In September 2010, the church was rocked by nearly 500 cases of
abuse by priests since the 1950s, including 13 victims who
committed suicide.