After expose on Simala shrine: Ex-monk files libel raps vs. Cardinal
Joekerr
fraudulent and lascivious acts inside the famous Marian Monks of the
Eucharistic Adoration monastery in Upper Lindogon, Sibonga, yesterday
filed a criminal complaint for libel against Cebu Archbishop Ricardo
Cardinal Vidal and three other priests, who have caused the
publication of an alleged defamatory notice to the public against him.
Venancio Cabillon, who is known in his religious name as Frater Paul
Mary, also named his former prior superior Frater Martin Mary, Rev.
Fr. Marnel Mejia and Msgr. Cristobal Garcia as respondents in the
criminal complaint he filed before the Cebu Provincial Prosecutor’s
Office.
The cardinal was impleaded in the complaint for giving his imprimatur
to the publication while Mejia and Garcia are included being editor
and business director of the Bag-ong Lungsoranon, a church-based
publication.
The case stemmed from the publication of the notice to the public
which saw print in Bag-ong Lungsoranon on its August 9 issue.
The publication gave notice to the public that Cabillon is no longer
connected with the Marian Monks Monastery in Simala, Sibonga since
January 8.
The publication gave warning to the public that he is no longer
allowed to engage any transaction on behalf of the congregation or to
solicit funds.
The publication also stated the grounds for his disconnection with the
monastery.
According to the publication, Cabillon “commits grave faults against
the religious vows of the order, as a trafficker of our own members of
religious formation, and also violates the vows of chastity and
obedience.”
Cabillon objected to the grounds cited in the publication as basis for
his disconnection with the congregation saying these were “false” and
“malicious.”
While he admitted being a “homosexual,” Cabillon denied all the
grounds mentioned in the publication.
Cabillon said he understand that the monastery was trying to prevent
the public from giving donations to him in case he would solicit on
behalf of the Marian monks because he was no longer connected with
them.
However, he said he “cannot comprehend” why the grounds of his alleged
disconnection were added to the publication.
“Everything came as a surprise to me,” Cabillon said.
He explained that his disconnection from the congregation was not
based on the grounds cited in the publication.
Cabillon said he served as a Marian Monk for 17 years starting as an
ordinary member until he became a Perpetual, a position he held before
he resigned on January 8 and requested for his transfer to the
monastery of Our Lady of Marangog in Hilongos Leyte.
Cabillon said he requested for transfer because he could no longer
cope with his “daily struggles as a cloistered monk” in Cebu.
According to him, there are “weird” and “unpleasant” activities inside
the monastery, which he said are “very repugnant and contradicting” to
his conscience, vows and religious beliefs.
He remembered the “humble beginnings” of the Simala shrine where he
said they “literally started from scratch.”
Cabillon said that because of the “fraudulent” acts they have gained
attention and financial support from the devotees not only in the
country but as well as from abroad.
Cabillon alleged that the monks in Simala, Sibonga are “living in a
world of lies and deceptions like creating seeming miracles on Mama
Mary shedding tears of blood, crying and other shenanigans.”
He added that like him, some of the monks in the Lindogon Shrine fell
prey to the “temptations of lust and worldly sinful weaknesses by
engaging in sodomy.”
Cabillon attached in his complaint several pictures showing some of
the monks wearing gowns during an alleged “Miss Gay Beauty Pageant”
inside the monastery.
Cabillon also attached the affidavit of a former aspirant, Calvin
Torres, who confirmed the alleged anomalous practices inside the
monastery.
“The shrine had long been tarnished and lost its humility and modesty
through their unfettered sacrilegious acts,” Cabillon said.
The complainant said that granting that the grounds mentioned in the
publications were true, he was not also given due process to defend
himself.
In fact, Cabillon said, he was never summoned by Cardinal Vidal during
a hearing to answer the charges before his alleged dismissal from the
order.
Dr. Edwin Fonghe, who is supporting Cabillon, said they are sending
copies of the complaint to the Catholic Bishops Conference of the
Philippines, Papal Nuncio and Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican City in
Rome.
Fonghe said he believes that Cardinal Vidal violated Title III, Canon
1450 of the Canon Law, an internal ecclesiastical law governing the
Roman Catholic Church, in allowing the publication of the grounds in
which Cabillon was dismissed from the order.
The provision of the Canon Law provides that the grounds and the
proceedings in which a member of the church is dismissed should have
been kept in “secret.”
Fonghe and Cabillon told reporters that they are not worried that they
will not be able to obtain justice in the land because of the
influence that the respondents hold.
“We might lose in the Philippine territory but we will win in heaven,”
Fonghe said.
He added that they really had no intention of filing a criminal
complaint had the respondents adhere to their request for public
apology.
According to them, they have waited for several weeks for the
respondents to apologize but they refused. —/NLQ (FREEMAN NEWS)