Roman Catholic Church Admits Ultra-conservative Bishop Abused Little Boys
Dear Kitty
Translated from RTL TV in the Netherlands today: Diocese admits: Bishop Gijsen abused little boys The diocese Roermond acknowledges that its former Bishop Jo Gijsen, deceased last year, abused two boys. They do this in a statement from the diocese. [Present] Bishop Frans Wiertz apologizes to the victims and expresses his sorrow that “the later ecclesiastical and role model position of former Bishop Jo Gijsen has been damaged.” Two underage boys The statement follows a report by the Katholiek Nieuwsblad [Catholic Newspaper] earlier in the evening that Gijsen had groped the genitals of two minor boys between 1958 and 1961. The newspaper reports that it is a one time fondling of a former student of the boys’ boarding school in Kerkrade and repeatedly fondling a boy (9-10 years old) from the parish in Valkenburg where Gijsen was chaplain until 1959. This boy is also said to have been forced to perform oral sex. He says he was also repeatedly raped by Gijsen. In December 2011 the complaints committee of the Roman Catholic Church has ruled that the former bishop had acted during the late 1950s at the Rolduc seminary “in an unseemly way” and had violated the privacy of a former student there ‘grossly’. There are still more abuse accusations against Gijsen (not sorted out yet). Like Gijsen was in a sexual abuse scandal in Iceland while being bishop there. Joannes Gijsen had become bishop in Roermond, the Netherlands, as one of several ultra-conservative Vatican appointees, against the wishes of most Roman Catholics in the diocese. His position in the Netherlands became untenable because of various issues, including sexual abuse at a seminary founded by Gijsen because he considered existing seminaries to be too liberal. The Vatican then moved Gijsen to Iceland, where there are few Roman Catholics.
|
.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.