Church’s Abysmal record With warm welcome for rape-accused bishop!
Church says it doesn’t believe complainant – by Rohan Venkataramakrishnan in the Daily Scroll+, 19 Octo. 2018
The Church has an abysmal record in dealing with sexual abuse allegations. Allowing Mulakkal to be showered with floral tributes only makes things worse. Former bishop Franco Mulakkal in Jalandhar on October 17/18
In this article sent to us by ‘Daily Scroll+’ an independent writer, Rohan Venkataramakrishnan, raises a very pertinent question for the Catholic Church leaders to reflect, think over again and again, digest it fully and draw practical exemplary action programs for tomorrow.
Writer Rohan makes a comparison between two kinds of treatment or justice given to perpetrators of alleged sexual harassment/rape in India. To a central minister, MJ Akbar in the Modi Ministry, it meant resignation from his job. But to Bishop Franco Mulackal in the Catholic Church accused of rape by a nun and prolonged months long process, he was given a royal welcome back for getting a bail both in Kerala and Jalandar by the official church authorities who blame the victimized nun and her supporters.
Akbar was attacked by over a dozen ladies from the #MeToo group for a week or two and he had to resign his job. Mulackal in the Catholic church was accused of rape over a dozen times and the victim was driven from pillar to post for months. The lesson the writer draws is that the Catholic church will always side with the clergy even when accused of crimes like rape.
Which community would you like to be part of? The political or religious? Here the principles taught by Jesus are better practiced by a secular government than by the Catholic Church. Hence this scribe’s aversion to be part of any churches or organized religions other than the Cattle Class.
Read what the writer says below and make your own religious decisions, if any. james kottoor, editor ccv
Read below the article received from Scroll+
It seems utterly incongruous, at time when a central minister has had to give up his job because of allegations of sexual harassment, that anyone accused of rape in India should be given a “hero’s welcome” for securing bail.
Even more so when that welcome was carried out by leaders and members of the Roman Catholic Church, an organisation that has an abysmal track record of handling sexual abuse allegations internally. Yet that is exactly what happened in Jalandhar on Tuesday, when Bishop Franco Mulakkal returned to the city after having been granted bail by the Kerala High Court.
Mulakkal was arrested for allegedly raping a nun on several occasions between 2014 and 2016. The Missionaries of Jesus, the congregation to which the nun belongs, has responded with outright hostility to the complainant, attempting to malign her repeatedly and even claiming that she was in a relationship with a taxi driver. An internal inquiry gave Mulakkal a clean chit. The bishop has also received support from political leaders, with independent Kerala MLA PC George being the most prominent of the lot: he held a press conference in September with the main aim of calling the nun a prostitute.
Most problematic has been the behaviour of the authorities. By early September, despite the complaint against Mulakkal having been lodged in July, Kerala Police had interrogated the nun on 12 occasions but only taken a statement from the bishop once. This delay, and the failure to take the rape-accused bishop into judicial custody, prompted some nuns to take the unusal step of holding a public protest. Eventually, with saturation media coverage, the authorities were forced to arrest the bishop.
Several prominent people within the Catholic community have called for fast-track courts and strict action against Mulakkal. But the scenes from Jalandhar on Tuesday suggest that there are many in the Church who do not take rape accusations seriously. Posters were put up in the city to welcome him, and hundreds of supporters turned up for Mulakkal’s return. Some even showered him with rose petals. Mulakkal was greeted at Bishop’s House by the current bishop and others, making it clear that the Church condones this public display of support.
It is one thing for the bishop and his supporters to insist that he is innocent. This sort of public posturing, however, comes across as aggressive, sending a clear message not just to the complainant nun but also to other Catholics who may have stories of abuse to tell. It says that the Church will continue to side with the clergy, even when accused of crimes. It also lends credence to arguments from the complainant that Mulakkal, whose bail is conditional on him staying out of Kerala except for court appearances, will use his tremendous clout to influence the case.
Kerala authorities, and the courts in particular, will have to seriously look at incidents like the welcome Mulakkal was accorded in Jalandhar, when it considers whether bail was indeed the right decision for a rape-accused. Meanwhile, it is incumbent upon those within the Catholic Church to ask questions of their leaders: Tuesday’s event, featuring the current bishop of Jalandhar, could not have taken place without the approval of Church leaders. Is this the message that the religious organisation would like to send about those accused of rape?
Catholic laity, the majority of them, are firmly intoxicated by the faith taught to them from childhood. Ask a famous heart transplant or a kidney transplant specialist doctor "To what you owe your incredible success in transplanting organs". Chances are that the two of them will reply to give credit to the face of the faith such as, to Mother Mary or Jesus or a combination of Mother, Jesus and the doctor's personal patron saint. It is unlikely ever that they both would adimit to the incredible advancement that medical science and technology have achieved over the years and their skills to take advantage of them as the key most important reason for their success.. As long as faithfuls remain intoxicated they see Jesus in every priest, bhishop and cardinals in ways that blinds their vision to the wrongdoing of the clergydom which the latter knows rather too well. They know well that they can do anything and get away with it. It is unlikely the faithfuls, especially youngsters,are going to change. I am 70 year old man and I find myself as questioning everything while the yougsters offer themselves to the faith blindly. One would have expected a person of my age to occupy the conservative slot while the youghsters liberal slots. But the reality on the gound is other way. We are in for many more scandals and many more years of covering up far into next century when hopefully things would change.
What a pathetic posturing by the Indian Catholic Church. Shame on the nuns who welcomed the predator with rose petals for having deflowered one of their own sisters. In doing so they have supported the wolf in sheep's clothing to carry on with his preying.
Shame too on the CBCI for looking the other way instead of stepping in immediately and sending the Frightening Franco to some remote village for rigorous social work.What is Franco doing at the Jalandhar Bishop's House when he no more the Bishop? If the Laity of India still prefer to remain "Sleeping Giants", they are in for re-enactment of Mario Pujo's Godfather.
Readers may see the following video in Mirror Now TV channel on Frightening Franco:
https://www.facebook.com/MirrorNow/videos/1399174896880930/?t=2