.png)
.png)
.png)
Video | Church finds sex abuse claims were 'founded' and refers case to Vatican
The victims of past sexual abuse by priests at St Joseph’s Home, Sta Venera, have been notified by the local church that their allegations were founded. They have been told that their case will now be sent to the Vatican for adjudication.
Police investigations into allegations of paedophilia by three members of the Missionary Society of St Paul and one diocesan priest took the country by storm in 2003.
The four persons charged by police were Fr Joseph Bonnett, Fr Godwin Scerri, Fr Charles Pulis and Fr Conrad Sciberras.
The first three are all members of the MSSP order while Fr Sciberras is a former member of the MSSP and now a diocesan priest.
For a brief period in the late eighties Fr Sciberras was the head of St Paul’s Missionary College in Rabat and he was also a teacher at the school.
A couple of years ago, Fr Sciberras left the order but remained a diocesan priest. He is currently in Malta.
Fr Joseph Bonnett was for some time responsible for the St Joseph Institute in St Venera.
In the eighties Fr Bonnett was also involved in the Depiro Youth Centre, where he helped organise the football nursery. In 1987, when based at the St Joseph Institute, Fr Bonnett helped create the St Venera football club nursery and remained involved until the early nineties.
Fr Charles Pulis also taught and offered his pastoral services at the St Paul’s Missionary College. Both him and Fr Bonnett are in Malta. On the other hand, Fr Godwin Scerri is currently based in Rome.
The alleged victims said they were sexually abused by the four clergymen while residing at the St Joseph Institute in St Venera.
The alleged abuse took place between the early eighties and early nineties when the victims were aged between 13 and 16. One of the alleged victims, Lawrence Grech, now aged 31 had appeared on Bondiplus with a story of alleged sexual abuse perpetrated by at least two of the priests.
Grech graphically described how at the age of 12 one of the priests started taking liberties with him. The contact at first involved touching and friendly bites on the face. Later on, Grech alleged, one of the priests also tried to masturbate him.
Last April Pope Benedict XVI accepted to meet a number of men who were sexually abused by members of the clergy, and was reported to have cried with the victims.
Donella Agius •
Why after more than 2 months since Mgr Charles Scicluna has himself made an extensive report and forwarded it to the Response Team of the maltese diocese, the Church in Malta now says that it has made a preliminary report and has just sent it to the Vatican for action? In August Mgr Charles Scicluna said that the matter now lies with the maltese church to decide. Who wants the maltese church to fool? Why all this secrecy on a very small number of corrupt maltese priests, when all the dioceses of the world are so open on these matters. The vatican has long said there is zero tolerance on such matters. So the only outcome should be that they should be defrocked immediately as these paedophile priest are only a burden on the church.
•
Good on you for naming the priests. Shame on the Times of Malta for failing to do so. As usual the Times is on the side of the Church.
