The Citizen
May 1, 2010
http://thecitizen.co.tz/sunday-citizen/38-sunday-magazine/1641-priests-sex-shame-what-tanzanian-catholics-think-about-the-unfolding-scandal.html
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| Bishop Kilaini |
How Tanzanians view Catholic sex shame
As the Vatican works to address the problem of sex abuse scandals, paedophilia and cover-ups by Roman Catholic priests, we raise the issue with Tanzanian Catholics
By Erick Mchome
The dust has not settled on the wave of sex abuse scandals, which have rocked the Roman Catholic Church around the world, involving thousands of victims; the shocking extent of cover-ups and hierarchical failings, and stretching back decades.
Most of the scandals have been from Europe, especially in Ireland and Germany, the home country of Pope Benedict XVI, who is reported to have presided over a diocese that silently transferred a paedophile priest to another diocese, where he continued working with children.
The Pope, who on March 20, apologised to victims of child sex abuse by Catholic priests in Ireland but stopped short of an apology for abuses in other countries, is now being accused of having been part of the cover ups. And others are calling for his resignation.
With all these sex scandals coming to light, some Catholics in Tanzania say while the church’s image is under severe threat from the priest’s sexual exploits with young children, it is not likely to have an significant impact on the local church because local followers and their counterparts in Europe or the US were raised in different societies with contrasting cultures.
Others believe that this will not scare the Tanzanian church, but just like the previous time when the church was hit by similar scandals, this storm will soon end because the issue was about a few priests who have indulged into sin, and not the entire church.
And Tanzanian followers see no justification for calls for the Pope to resign saying those proposing that he steps down just like the priests who were involved in the sex scandals are not being fair to the revered head of the world’s biggest church.
“I do not understand why there is so much screaming about all this. Individual people in any church mess up, and as for the Roman Catholic, these sex scandals did not begin yesterday, they have been there a long time,” Justine Saule, a Catholic businessman in Dar es Salaam, says.
Also defending the church, another Catholic follower, 46-year-old Amos Maganigani says: “Most Tanzanians are not shaken by this because they understand that when one members messes up it does not necessarily mean the whole church is messed up.”
He also argues that no local church is likely to experience declining membership as a result of the sex abuse cases “because people here are careful not to compare priests in Europe and America and their own priests.”
What Tanzanian clerics say
But Bishop Methodius Kilaini of the Bukoba
Roman Catholic church, says although it is not the first time the sex scandal have rocked the church, Tanzanians are “not in any good mood about it and we are also feeling the pain.”
“It does not matter that this has happened so far away from Tanzania, the effects of such a big scandal are felt even here,” says the clergyman.
He says the scandals are unfortunate since priests are supposed to be credible people of honesty, but then “when such things happen, it is an opportunity for everyone of us to learn from these mistakes that our brethren have done,” Dr Kilaini reasons.
He says similar scandals rocked the church some 30 years ago, and that the church has been trying to resolve them. He adds that the important thing to do, however, is to ensure that “these things won’t happen ever again.”
Celibacy
Like Pope Benedict, Bishop Kilaini maintains that celibacy is not the cause of these scandals. He corroborates arguments by defenders of celibacy who say the sex abuse issue is a breach of the church's discipline, not a result of it, especially since only a small percentage of priests have been implicated.
“There is no definite connection between this and the issue of celibacy, because if you come to think of it, sex scandals do not begin or end with priests, but also involve other members of the society who are married and have families,” he argues.
Opinion seems divided on whether there is any definite link or connection between the Roman Catholic institution of celibacy and incidences of child abuse by Catholic clergy. Critics of celibacy say it has contributed to the abuse problem by creating a morally superior status that is easily misapplied by abusive priests.
Some people in Tanzania and abroad see the recent sex scandals as a justification for reopening the celibacy debate. They say it is time the church abandons its position on the doctrine of celibacy, and allow its priests and nuns to get married, and avoid the sex scandals that are defaming the church.
But Bishop Kilaini suggests the Catholic priests should not marry. He insists that scrapping celibacy is not the panacea for the priests’ sexual escapades. Instead, he says the focus must be on how to prevent other scandals, and help priests strive to stick to their calling and be role models to the church’s followers.
A Dar es Salaam-based Catholic follower for years, Ms Virginia Rugambwa, agrees. She argues that the church has its own way of addressing such problems, and therefore, people should “stop pointing accusing fingers but respect the church’s principles.”
However, other Catholic followers in Dar es Salaam say the doctrine of celibacy has failed and should be revisited, possibly to make it optional for priests to marry. They allege that although Catholic priests in Tanzania have not come out to say they want to get married a significant number of clerics have either fathered children or are indulging in sex with church followers.
“It is well known here that some Catholic priests in Tanzania have affairs, in some cases abnormal ones. It happened some years ago, and most people know about it – a bishop was caught sodomising a young boy. And that is not the only case, tales abound here of senior priests who have sexual affairs with married women, or with young girls, and have fathered children with them,” says a Dar es Salaam Catholic church-goer, who refused to be named fearing that she may be regarded as disrespectful and rebellious to the church.
The woman, in her 30s, argues that sex abuse cases and sexual affairs involving priests in Tanzania and several other African countries appear not to be pronounced because they are rarely investigated.
In neighbouring Kenya, three young men and a boy reportedly told police last June that an Italian priest working in the country had been sexually molesting them for years at a shelter for poor children on the outskirts of Nairobi. Despite assurances of an investigation by the church, an investigation has not taken place, according to some media reports.
It is unclear whether the abuse took place or not, but the church's response – or lack of it – is said to have inspired furious debate in the country.
In Uganda, tales also abound of senior priests who have sexual affairs and bear children. The sex scandals have also sparked heated debate on the need for the Roman Catholic to revise its celibacy in the country.
A sect in Uganda, which reportedly broke away from the Catholic Church and allows their priests to marry, is said to be attracting a number of Catholic priests, proving there are priests who wish to get married but remain celibate for fear of being excommunicated.
The sect is said to have been started by a renegade Catholic Church in Brazil, and has kept most of the norms of the church like barring women from becoming priests. Ends
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