BishopAccountability.org
	'Wolf-Priests Should Be Defrocked By Christian Peregin Times of Malta August 3, 2011 http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110803/local/-Wolf-priests-should-be-defrocked-.378522 The victims of two priests who were yesterday sentenced to jail for sexually abusing boys in their care are calling for their immediate defrocking. "This is history... Now we feel a bit better after all these years," said an emotional Lawrence Grech, who was the first victim to speak out eight years ago about abuse at the St Joseph's Home in Sta Venera. "I cannot forgive. My pain is still there and these people did a lot of damage... I had friends at the institute who are dead today, either because of drugs or suicide. These (priests) are responsible for them too," Mr Grech said, as he broke down in tears. Addressing the press outside the law court in Valletta after Fr Carmelo Pulis and Fr Godwin Scerri were jailed for six and five years respectively, Mr Grech appealed for other abuse victims to come forward, even if they feared the Church or the courts. A third priest, Fr Joseph Bonnett, who also faced sex abuse charges, passed away last January, aged 63. The two priests were granted bail after they appealed the judgment handed down by Magistrate Saviour Demicoli. "Abuse has finally been exposed. I hope other (abused) children follow my example to address their pain," Mr Grech said, pointing out that there were many silent victims out there. When he first spoke out, people accused him of having malicious intentions, he recalled, "but the truth is here today". TV presenter Lou Bondì, who broke the story eight years ago and became the victims' spokesman, described them as survivors. He said they expected the Church to react by ending its investigations and defrocking the priests. "This is the least the Church can do in the coming hours," he said, as he referred to two ongoing Church investigations about the same case, one by the local Response Team and the other by the Vatican. "We ask for an apology and for these false priests, these wolves in the true sense of the word, to be sacked as soon as possible," Mr Grech added. The Church's media arm did not reply to e-mails and phone calls by The Times yesterday. Not even the Vatican's Promoter of Justice in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Mgr Charles Scicluna, who had called on the local Church authorities to speed up the case, was available for comment.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.