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Sex abuse victims demand church takes action against fourth priest
The victims of the MSSP sex abuse have asked the Maltese church to take action against Fr Conrad Sciberras, the fourth priest in the victims' abuse claims
12 August 2011, 12:00am
Karl Stagno-Navarra
Karl Stagno-Navarra
2 min read
The demand was forwarded during a meeting between the victims and Archbishop Paul Cremona who apologised for what happened to the men at the hands of the clergymen of the Missionary Society for St Paul at the St Joseph Home, and for the delay in the investigations led by the Curia’s Response Team.
Last week, a court sentence led to the defrocking of priests Charles Pulis and Fr Godwin Scerri, who were sentenced to 11 years' imprisonment between them. Both have since appealed.
Accompanied by lawyer Patrick Valentino, the victims headed by Lawrence Grech told reporters ahead of the meeting that they expected steps to be taken against Fr. Conrad Sciberras, who is believed to be living in Italy.
Sources revealed this week that the Vatican is still reviewing the case against Fr Sciberras who is also implicated in the St Joseph Home abuse scandal, but the allegations are reportedly time-barred and could not face prosecution.
But the meeting today also paved the way for the victims and the Curia to initiate discussions on financial compensation for their ordeal.
Both the Archbishop and the victims said that the meeting was a positive one.
In its reaction to the court sentence last week, the Archdiocese expressed its deep regret that such minors were abused while under the MSSP’s care and asked for forgiveness from all the victims who suffered abuse and also from Maltese society.
The Church also expressed regret that the investigations took so long to be concluded.
“The Church urges all those persons who may have some knowledge of abuse on minors to report these abuses immediately. The Church has strengthened its structures in order that as far as possible, such abuses may be avoided; should it take place, measures will be taken to rectify the matter in the shortest time possible,” the Curia said.
Pope Benedict XVI has decreed the dismissal from the clerical state of the priests, as a penalty, who however will remain incorporated in the above mentioned Missionary Society. This decision cannot be appealed.
The Missionary Society of St Paul said that from the first moment that the allegations surfaced in 2003, Fr. Charles Pulis was barred from public priestly ministry as a precautionary measure.
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EddyPriviitera l-pulizija u l-istat illumhad ma jzommhom li jinvestigaw kull ma jidrilhom li jkollu xi krimini. Pero li l-knisja taghmel investigazzjoni interna ma taghmel xejn hazin.
Hit hadli xoghli u ra sew bejn il-linji. Dawn il-kumbinazzjonijiet kollha normalmet iifissru xi haga.
Mela l-ewwel hassruli hajti, imbaghad nistieden wiehed minnhom biex izewwigni, imbaghad nillixka ghal kumpens imbaghad nghi li dan kien qisu missieri
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The catholic church never change, its rotten through and through.
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Are the police in Malta investigating this case, or are they awaiting the "go ahead" from the church?
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Harloc...ma kkonvincejtnix habib...Il Knisja taghna FALZA U KORROTTA! Fullstop!
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@Eddie Privitera - naqbel perfettament mieghek biss inzid li l-Knisja dejjem kienetr enti privata apparti li hi 'above' il-ligijiet Maltin fejn jidhol l-annulamenti etc. Allura bhala enti privata dejjem izzomm il-problemi interni misturin u minn jazzarda jonxor il-hwejjeg mahmugin barra holl xgharek u gib iz-zejt mhemx ghalfejn immoru lura fi zmien l-inkwizitur. Li hu ta' minn jistharreg aktar fil-fond hu kif meta f'Malta in-nies huma marufa u marufa sew (ghax jien dejjem nistghageb kif in-NIES ikunu jafu l-qoh** ta' kulhadd) ikun hemm dak l-attruppament pedofelu f'kunvent wiehed u ghal dak iz-zmien twil. Difficli li dak li nahseb nispjegah. J'Alla li kullhad wara mewtu jiehu li haqqu ghax kieku...................???????
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My opinion:
-being gay is not very common
-being pedophile is rare
-being gay and pedophile is super rare
In my eyes it is extremely remote that 4 pedophilic gays ended up becoming priests , finding themselves in the same home and looking after the same boys.
A statistical/mathematical model would be interesting.
The alternative would be ganging.
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Only hard evidence should have been presented and not a persons word against another.
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Nazzareno Pace •
I am happy that justice was made for these people. If a person did wrong, even as a priest, it should pay it's dues to the victims and society. Now that they have been proven right, I think that the chapter just reported should be the closing report of a saga that put the local church in a very bad shadow. I think that now these guys have to move on and stop all this bad publicity and grumbling on the church and go ahead with their lives. Hope that some of them are not using this particular incident as a trampoline for other things.
Let us not forget the amount of good things the church does. It is easy to point fingers, but there are also other clerics who have given all their wealth and even their whole life in truly helping other locally and abroad. I cannot say that I am a perfect christian, but every christian must also remember the words of Jesus saying 'Let Him Who Is Without Sin Cast the First Stone'.
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Ma nistax nifhem kif il-Knisja ghada trid tibqa tinvestiga rapporti ta' abbuzi sesswali fuq minorenni permezz tar-'Response Team' , meta dawn l-abbuzi jsiru minn membri taghha . Sa fejn naf jien, ebda oprganizazzjoni ohra f'pajjizna ma ghanda dritt tibda tinvestiga hi rapporti ta' abbuzi minn xi membri taghha.
Fl-opinjoni tieghi HU L-KOMPITU TAL-PULIZIJA li tinvestiga kull tip ta' abbuz, inkluz dak sesswaii, fuq minorenni U HADD AKTAR !
Eddy Privitera
Raymond Falzon •
PEZZA WAHDA
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Haga sabieha li parti mill li storja waslet f'dan li stadju. Kien sewwa u prudenti ghal Mons.Cremona li jghamel apologija, il qalb ta dawn il vitmi hija mwegga hafna. Il knisja trid tuza makkinarju li dawn l-affarijiet ma jergux issiru.
Imma qed ninsew sacerdoti b'tendenzi gays, jigru min letrina ghal ohra.Iraqdu guvintur fic celel imbghad jinzlu jqadsu.Qisa ma gara xejn. Jiena zgur li mhux persuna kontra l-gays imma meta tkun sacerdot trid li tiehu decizzjonijiet. Patrijiet inbghatu l-Kanada u regu bghatuhom lura, jintbghatu Ruma biex jinhbew. Wasal iz zmien li l-Arcisqof jiehu decizzjoni iebsa ghax dan mhux numru zghir.Jiena nammira sacerdoti li hadu decizzjoni li jitlqu ssacerdozju ghax ma kienx kompatibli mall hajja li kienu qed jghixu.
Kif jista sacerdot jinzell u jikkonsagra ????????????
Zack Depasquale •
Quote "The Church also expressed regret that the investigations took so long to be concluded."
Except for showing regret, what is the church and the proper authorities going to do,
Are they going to make sure that further investigations do not take so long to complete?
Are they going to find out who was responsible that these investigations took so long to complete?
Are they going to find out who in the church gave only a slap on the wrist to one of these priests and send him back to work with kids after an investigation?
Persons who tried to hush up these acts by these so called priests should be investigated as well and action taken accordingly against them otherwise all the apologys the church asks for are for nothing.
We all remember that the Church asked for forgivness for the way it threated Labour Party supporters in the sixties but during the divorce campaign it had it repeated some of the old mistake.
So I say to the Church Authorities please keep your apologys and start acting now, we are sick of apologys that lead nowhere. Remember that actions speak much louder than words.
