Church to Fund Psychological Assistance for Abuse Victims
By Matthew Vella
The Maltese archdiocese has established a board of medical professionals for therapeutic evaluation, in response to the abuse of minors by members of the clergy. The announcement comes just hours after Malta's new auxiliary bishop-elect Charles Scicluna, until recently the Vatican's chief prosecutor of priests accused of sexual abuse, said that it should be the former MSSP priests and not the archdiocese to pay the victims of the St Joseph Home compensation for the abuse they suffered. The new board, established by both archbishop Paul Cremona and Gozo bishop Mario Grech, was agreed with the conference of superiors of religious orders, as a service offered to victims irrespective of any civil or ecclesiastical proceedings that might be ongoing. The board's members are psychologist Dr Anthony Gatt, psychiatrist Dr Anthony Dimech, and social worker Julian Xuereb, who have been appointed on three-year, renewable basis. The board will present an annual report to the Maltese episcopal conference. The archdiocese said the board will evaluation and determine the necessary therapeutic help that victims might require both by medical and pastoral officers, with all costs borne by the ecclesiastical authorities. The board will deal with cases that have been definitively decided by the Ecclesiastical Tribunal, a Civil Court, or by the Church Response Team which deals with sex abuse claims. The establishment of the board comes in response to the sex abuse scandal that hit the Maltese church when priests from the Missionary Society of St Paul were found guilty of having abused children under their custody at the St Joseph Home, in Hamrun. The children, today adults, are demanding compensation from the Maltese church.
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