“Homosexuality and adult films had become a part of their lifestyle…. A section of priests and nuns were driven by lust for power and money. Mismanagement of funds was also rampant in institutions under the Vincentian Congregation order…. Most celibates indulge in self-pleasure.” — Ex-Vincentian Catholic priest K.B. Shibu
Thiruvananthapuram, Sept. 1: Barely a year after a former Catholic nun wrote in her autobiography about the suppressed sexual life and draconian rules within the convents, a former Catholic priest has come out with his own experiences of homosexuality at seminaries, sexual misconduct of priests, lack of transparency in money matters and the unfair approach of superiors.
In his 160-page book, Here is the heart of a Priest [download no longer available], K. P. Shibu Kalamparambil has written about life he had had to lead as member of the Catholic Vincentian Congregation for past 24 years — 11 years as priest, 13 as seminarian.
The 39-year-old former priest left the Catholic order in March 2010, and flew to Doha where he joined as a teacher with an Indian school. A native of Angamaly near Kochi, Shibu has found his leave period to release and distribute the book. “I have faced stiff opposition from the Vincentian Congregation and my family alike when I broached the idea of publishing my story.” – Times of India, 2 September 2010
Thiruvananthapuram: Barely a year after a former Catholic nun wrote in her autobiography about the suppressed sexual life and draconian rules within the convents, a former Catholic priest has come out with his own experiences of homosexuality at seminaries, sexual misconduct of priests, lack of transparency in money matters and the unfair approach of superiors.
In his 160-page book, Here is the heart of a Priest, K. P. Shibu Kalamparambil has written about life he had had to lead as member of the Catholic Vincentian congregation for the past 24 years — 11 years as priest, 13 as seminarian.
The 39-year-old former priest left the Catholic order in March 2010, and flew to Doha where he joined as a teacher with an Indian school.
A native of Angamaly near Kochi, Shibu has found his leave period to release and distribute the book. “I have faced stiff opposition from the Vincentian Congregation and my family alike when I broached the idea of publishing my story.”
His book is an open letter about alleged sexual anarchy of priests, injustice meted out to members and mismanagement of resources at a Catholic order. “Three times I had met with road accident. As my Congregation failed to support me, I had to meet the hospital bills on all occasions.”
“While working as a teacher with the Congregation-run educational institution in Kasargode, I had to face agitations from student outfits. The Congregation did not come to my rescue. When a priest is insulted continuously, … what is the logic in the Church saying that he should suffer everything for Jesus?”
On his early days at Papal Seminary [Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth] in Pune, Shibu alleges he was sexually abused by senior seminarians. “Homosexual relations were rampant in seminaries. The victims had to suffer silently. If they complain, … both the accused and the victim would be shown the door. Hence, succumbing to the urges of the seniors was the only option….”
“During pastoral work, the seminarians used to travel on cycles. While moving around on a cycle, seminarians made a point to give lift to children. They (children) would be asked to tightly embrace the riding seminarian. Such acts were done with deliberate sexual intention,” he alleges in the book. “There had been incidents of senior seminarians pretending as priests and hearing confessions. ”
He alleges several priests sexually exploited widows or nuns. He also alleges, “Certain priests have no qualms to divert donations from believers for their personal purposes. Church funds should be handled by government agencies….”
Shibu himself is the publisher of his work, which has only 100 copies in the first edition. “I am planning a second edition of 10,000 copies.”
Provincial-General of Vincentian Congregation Fr Paul Puthuva said he would comment after reading the book.
Fr Paul Thelakkattu, spokesperson for the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, said: “Unfortunately the Church is one in which people like him are also living and working…. He has simply betrayed the trust of the faithful.”
In 2009, Sister Jesme had embarrassed the Kerala Catholic Church by writing about her sexual encounters with priests in her work Amen. – The Laitytude, Mumbai, September 1, 2010
Thiruvananthapuram, Sept. 1: There seems no end to Church’s woes as far as “God’s own country” is concerned. After ex-nun Sister Jesmi’s tell-all book on the dark side of the convent life, it’s now the turn of a former priest to expose what he claims “sexual anarchy among the clergy and the faithful”.
The book, Here is The Heart of a Priest by K P Shibu, who left the Vicentian Congregation after 11 years, is autobiographical and slams the “indulgent and licentious life-style of a section of the clergy”. Writing about his days with the congregation, Shibu (38) alleges, “Homosexuality and adult films had become a part of their lifestyle…. A section of priests and nuns were driven by lust for power and money. Mismanagement of funds was also rampant in institutions under the order.”
After listening to the confessions of priests, Shibu claims he concluded that 60% of them had had sexual encounters with nuns, widows, society ladies or other faithful women. “Most celibates indulge in self pleasure,” he writes in one place. There were also those who took advantage of poverty of women, orphans and abused children, alleges the former priest, and says ragging of new comers to the order shamefully prevails in seminaries.
Sister Jesmi’s book, Amen: Autobiography of a Nun, was similarly critical of convent life. – Times of India, Mumbai, September 2, 2010
Thiruvananthapuram, Sept. 1: After the tell-all memoirs of a Catholic nun that shocked the Christian community in Kerala, an ex-priest has come out with a book alleging that some priests and nuns in churches in the state suffer from moral turpitude despite their vow of celibacy.
In his memoirs titled Oru Vaidikente Hridayamitha (“Here is the heart of a priest”), K. P. Shibu rues that the moral foundations of the church have been weakened with sections of priests and nuns indulging in sex and venality despite their solemn vow to abstain from carnal pleasures.
Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil’s twisted reasoning: Telling the truth about the moral turpitude in his church is considered a “betrayal of the trust of faithful”. The real betrayal of course is that made by the depraved priests and nuns in his jurisdiction.
A spokesperson of the Syro Malabar Catholic Church rejected the allegations levelled in the book as an all-out attempt to malign the church.
“It is a pity that he was in priesthood for 11 years and heard confessions and issued guidance to parishioners. Through his work he has simply betrayed the trust of the faithful,” the Church spokesperson said.
Sex, greed and power struggle have become part of the church institutions where a good number of priests and themselves are vulnerable to these worldly temptations, Shibu, who quit the Vincentian Congregation a few months back after spending 24 years in church as a student and priest.
Recalling his experience of hearing confessions from fellow-priests, Shibu alleged that many of them had sexual experiences and sexually exploited nuns as well as widows and society ladies who approached them for spiritual solace.
He said he decided to narrate his experiences despite opposition even from his own relatives out of his concern for the church and the community members. – Deccan Chronicle, Chennai, September 2, 2010
- Pope Benedict’s responsibility for the scandals
- Shibu’s book has made it to the Abuse Tracker Archive
Filed under: india | Tagged: catholic bishops' conference of india, catholic church, celebacy, christianity, culture, homosexuality, k.b. shibu, priestly vows, psychological warfare, religion, roman catholic church, sister jesmi |
BHARATA BHARATI 
Times of India, Chennai, Oct. 13, 2010
Tiruchi principle removed from post after nun’s charge
A day after a case of rape was registered against Fr R Rajarathinam, principal of the 165-year-old St Joseph’s College in Tiruchi, the governing body of the college removed him from the post on Wednesday.
An order issued by Fr M Devadoss, chairman of the governing bodies of Jesuits’ colleges in Tamil Nadu, said Rajarathinam is “relieved from principalship”. The statement further said it was based on Rajarathinam’s request that he was relieved from the post for one month. But he will continue as a professor of the college, it said.
A 31-year-old nun had approached the police on Tuesday alleging that Rajarathinam had raped her in 2006 after offering her cool drinks laced with sedative. She claimed she did not reveal it then as he threatened her with dire consequences. She was again raped in 2008, she alleged in her complaint, adding that she approached the police because he “continued to abuse her sexually”. The police have registered a case of rape and intimidation against Rajarathinam. “A case under IPC Sections 376 (rape) and 506 (1) (criminal intimidation) has been registered. Only after thorough investigation will we proceed further,” assistant commissioner R Srinivasan had told TOI on Tuesday.
The police on Wednesday took the nun to the government hospital in Tiruchi where medical tests were conducted on her following a direction from a judicial magistrate. The police said they are waiting for the test results to proceed further in the case. “This is a sensitive case. We have begun questioning people and are receiving a lot of information. We are checking out the veracity of those information,” a police official said.
College sources said that it was unlikely that Rajarathinam would resume duty as principal even after the investigation though his tenure ends only in June next year. Fr A Sebastian, an associate professor who has been appointed as the acting principal, would continue in the post, they said.
Meanwhile, a group of people belonging to the People’s Art and Literary Association staged a protest in front of the college on Wednesday demanding Rajarathinam’s arrest.
Read more: Tiruchi principal accused of rape loses – The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Tiruchi-principal-accused-of-rape-loses/articleshow/6744431.cms#ixzz12zsfwq5V
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Belgium news portal Expatica.com, 14 September 2010
Child abuse: Catholic Church scandal timeline
Key events relating to child abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church over the past year:
– November 26, 2009: In Ireland, the report of a public inquiry reveals cases of sexual abuse against hundreds of children, committed by clergy over several decades.
– January 28, 2010: The rector of a Jesuit college in Berlin acknowledges that children were abused there in the 1970s and 80s. Other cases emerge in German establishments.
– March 1: In the Netherlands, a Catholic order opens an inquiry into abuse committed against childen in a school in Arnhem in the 1960s. In August, a Dutch church report mentions a total of 1,600 cases around the country.
– March 5: Among other revelations in Germany, it emerges that at least two cases of sexual abuse occurred in the 1960s in a school choir that was headed at the time by the brother of Cardinal Ratzinger, who is now Pope Benedict XVI.
– March 16: The Vatican acknowledges that allegations of child abuse have been made against priests in Brazil. Over the following weeks, several scandals emerge in that country.
– March 20: In a pastoral letter to Irish Catholics, Pope Benedict expresses his shame at abuse scandals, and accuses the country’s clergy of a “breakdown of trust.”
– March 25: A New York Times report says that the current pope had in the past turned a blind eye to reports that a priest had abused some 200 deaf children at a school in the US state of Wisconsin.
– April 23: In the Belgian city of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe becomes the first Catholic bishop to resign for having himself sexually abused a child, his nephew.
– June 2: The Conference of Bishops in Switzerland says that 104 people have filed allegations of child abuse by clergy in that country since the start of the year.
– June 23: The Austrian Catholic Church sets up a compensation fund for victims of sexual abuse and other forms of mistreatment by clergy. At least 200 cases have come to light in the country since March.
– July 15: The Vatican announces tougher church rules to combat child abuse cases.
– Sept 10: The Belgian Catholic Church reveals an avalanche of abuse cases, including 13 which led to suicides.
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Read it here. The christianized secular Indian media will not publish serious news about paedophile Christian priests. The editors all went to Jesuit schools, you know. And learned the famous Jesuit “exercises” too, you know. You know!?
AFP: Belgium news portal Expatica,com, 10 September 2010
BELGIUM SEX ABUSE PRIESTS LINKED TO 13 SUICIDES
A Belgian Catholic Church-backed commission released harrowing testimony Friday from around 500 cases of alleged sex abuse involving more than 100 victims, 13 of whom were driven to suicide.
The testimony from victims of clergy and church workers reveals 13 suicides and six attempted suicides “in relation to sexual abuse by a cleric,” said the report published by the Commission on Church-related Sexual Abuse Complaints, set up by the Catholic Church.
The commission headed by independent child psychiatrist Peter Adriaenssens said it had looked into 475 complaints between January and June this year.
“It’s the Church’s Dutroux,” Adriaenssens said at a news conference, referring to the mid-1990s trauma caused in Belgium by the arrest of serial rapist and killer Marc Dutroux — serving life for six rapes and four murders.
The scale of the abuse stunned the church.
“We realise that we were totally misinformed and that we weren’t aware of the gravity of the situation and that these victims were hurt for life,” said the Bishop of Tournai, Guy Harpigny.
“Some committed suicide. This is extremely serious. Mindsets are changing and I think the church authorities are also ready to act towards change,” added the bishop, who has been tasked with looking at paedophilia in the church.
Most of the complaints received by the commission were related to charges of sexual abuse committed between the 1950s and the late 1980s by Catholic clergy, but also by teachers of religion and adults working with youth movements.
The victims are today generally aged between 50 and 60.
The 200-page report which contains testimonies from some 124 anonymous “survivors” — as they are called — reveal that the sexual abuse for most victims began at age 12, although one was two years old, five were aged four, eight aged five and 10 aged seven, the report said.
While the description of the alleged sex abuser is often imprecise, where verification had been made 102 were found to have been members of some 29 religious orders, the report said.
“We can say that no congregation escapes sexual abuse of minors by one or several of its members,” the report’s authors wrote.
Two-thirds of the alleged victims were male, it noted.
The commission said it received most of its testimony after the forced resignation in April of the bishop of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe, who admitted having sexually abused his nephew between 1973 and 1986.
A woman in the report testified that she was abused at age 17 by a priest and tried to seek help from a bishop in 1983.
“I told him ‘I have a problem with one of your priests’. He told me: ‘Ignore him and he will leave you alone’,” she said.
The commission, whose report is available at http://www.commissionabus.be, concluded that the victims deserve “a courageous Church which is not afraid to confront its vulnerability, to recognise it, to cooperate in finding fair responses.”
The commission members resigned en masse in June after their files were seized in raids by Belgian judicial authorities.
Judges initially struck off from admissible evidence the fruits of a search at the commission’s offices.
Then on Thursday a Belgian appeals court deemed parallel raids on the church headquarters in Brussels and at the home of its former top cardinal disproportionate, and ordered that the material seized there be returned, with prosecutors unable to use it.
The country’s current archbishop, Andre-Joseph Leonard, said “it is in everyone’s interests that the fundamental rules of law are respected.”
Former archbishop, Cardinal Godfried Danneels, has been accused of trying to cover up several affairs to protect the image of the church.
The church is due to present a fresh “initiative” next Monday aimed at helping victims of sexual abuse by priests.
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The Catholic Church is not in decline, it has fallen off a cliff. It is a cliff of its own design, but it is a cliff none-the-less. The people of the world, their political representatives, their law enforcement and their courts, must execute their responsibilities and demand full accountability and compensation from not only the individual perpetrators of these heinous crimes but the entire organization, including the Vatican, that both protected and aided these pedophiles. Letters of apology, hush money, and empty promises will no longer suffice. The Catholic Church, and Pope Benedict XVI, must stand trial.
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