Salesians Silent on Child Abuse Concerns
Samoa Observer
A Catholic order, the Salesian Order of Don Bosco, has failed to respond to questions from the Samoa Observer on fears about child abuse in Samoa. The silence happens at a time when the Vatican is facing growing pressure at the United Nations to extend its child abuse protections worldwide. The failure from the Salesian Order of Don Bosco to respond to questions from the Samoa Observer is despite news this week that the Catholic Church has paid out more than $40 million tala in settlements to child abuse victims in Australia. Questions were raised last month following the conviction in Australia on child abuse charges of a priest who, police found, had been sent to Samoa to avoid investigation. Father Frank Klep had already been convicted of child abuse in 1994 and was sent here in 1998. When the regional head of the Salesians, Fr. Greg Chambers, was contacted in early April, his office told the Samoa Observer he was not available until the middle of the month. “Fr Greg is not in the office until mid-April, however, I will make sure he receives your email on his return,” said Karen Child, Personal Assistant to the Provincial, on 4th April 2014. Asked if there was anyone else that can comment in his absence, she responded, “No not for something of such importance like this.” She added, “Fr Greg will be back in the office possibly at the end of next week and I’ll pass your email onto him.” There was no response to follow up emails sent on the 25th April and 6th of May 2014 from Samoa Observer. Questions focused on whether there have been any complaints of child abuse laid in Samoa, whether any investigations were carried out, what policies and procedures were in place to handle complaints, whether the issue of child abuse had been raised at the National Council of Churches, and whether the Salesians were confident there were no cases of abuse here. Recent publicity about Father Klep’s case led to a second round of complainants, resulting in further charges being laid. He was convicted last month. Father Klep left Samoa in 2004 as government here prepared to deport him after an American newspaper, the Dallas Morning News, exposed the fact that he was still in contact with children. After his departure, no other action was announced here by government, church authorities or the National Council of Churches. Police investigations, parliamentary inquiries, and national campaigns against child abuse in Australia and the rest of the world have not prompted anything similar in Samoa. Overall, some 49 complaints were made in Victoria, Australia against 14 priests in the Salesian order of Don Bosco, which runs secondary and technical schools here, according to media reports. Some of them have served in Samoa. But the regional head of the Salesians, Fr. Greg Chambers, has failed to respond to questions about those priests, and what investigations, if any, have been carried out here. During a hearing by the Victoria State Parliament in 2013, Father Chambers was asked how much money had been paid out. “Yes, I can give you that figure,” Fr. Chambers told the inquiry last year. “On behalf of the Salesians, Catholic Church Insurances has settled approximately 37 claims, with payments of $1,333,854. The Salesians have paid out a further $732,294 to victims. That is a total of $2,066,148 paid to victims of abuse in our province.” The Victoria inquiry tabled its final report in November 2013, with the church denying it was protecting pedophiles. Those figures were surpassed this week by what media reports described as “staggering” sums released this week at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, set up in January 2013. They show that the Christian Brothers and the Catholic Church Insurance had paid more than $42 million tala to 531 people, involving 775 allegations. The Salesian Province encompasses Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Samoa. A website called Bosconet gives the following description for Salesian activity in Samoa: “The Samoa presence is characterized by several large institutional activities – two large parishes, one technical institute and the catechist training/pre-seminary training; Samoa is also characterized by vocational fruitfulness. There are 20 or more young Samoan Salesians at all levels of formation and even in positions of responsibility for formation. Through these activities, the young people who are influenced by Salesian education run into thousands.” The silence from the Salesians about questions from Samoa also contrasts with more transparent approaches from the Vatican. According to evidence given on Tuesday to a United Nations committee on torture, the Vatican revealed that over the past decade, it has defrocked 848 priests who raped or molested children and sanctioned another 2,572 with lesser penalties, providing the first ever breakdown of how it handled the more than 3,400 cases of abuse reported to the Holy See since 2004. There are some 410,000 Catholic priests worldwide, according to Catholic News Services, quoted by Associated Press. At the same time, the Vatican attempted to limit exposure to future abuse cases, with its Ambassador to the UN, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, repeating claims that the authority of the Holy See extended only to the Vatican itself. However that claim had already been rejected, in February, by another UN body, the children’s rights committee. Ms. Felice D. Gaer, vice chairwoman of the torture committee, said the treaty against torture was signed by the Holy See, representing more than just the Vatican City state. “Never before had a party to the convention tried to limit its application to just one part of itself,” she said. What the committee wanted, Gaer told the archbishop, “is simply that you show to us that, as a party to the convention, you have a system in place to prohibit torture and ill treatment as defined by the convention, when it is perpetrated or acquiesced to by anyone under the effective control of the officials of the Holy See and the institutions that operate in the Vatican City state.” The committee is due to report its finding on 23rd May. Clashes at the United Nations follow a decision in December by Pope Francis to form a commission to advise on combating sexual abuse. Victims of sexual abuse are reported as being “skeptical” of this initiative, especially in the wake of the canonization of Pope John Paul II, whose historic silence on sex abuse has been widely attacked. On Friday, Barbara Blaine, President of SNAP, Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests praised the Vatican for more transparency on the numbers of priests involved. However, she also said that without naming the priests, and reporting them to police, the figures were “meaningless.” She said that “Pope Francis and the bishops are not taking action that would protect children. “These simple acts would protect hundreds of thousands of children across the world.” Ms. Blaine called on the church, at a minimum, to remove priests involved in abuse. In its submission to the torture panel on behalf of SNAP, the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights alleged that “The Holy See has consistently sidestepped real accountability and serious reform. C.C.R. said that guidelines given this year by bishops in Italy and approved by the Vatican “explicitly states they are not required to inform law enforcement authorities if they suspect a child has been sexually assaulted.” They accused the church of not properly tackling sexual abuse, seeking to stall investigations and keeping pedophile priests in posts where they were in contact with children. Criticism this week recalls 2012 statements from police in Victoria, Australia regarding Father Klep. “Regardless of whether there was any intent to evade criminal proceedings, the reality is that his relocation, without disclosure regarding his criminal history, put that community at risk,” according to the 20-page report by Victoria police, highlighted in 2012 by the Dallas Morning News. “It is apparent that the church has assisted offenders who are known to police in moving overseas.” In April last year, Father Chambers told the Victoria inquiry that "The Salesian Province is continually reviewing and enhancing the ongoing education and formation of its members in the proper care of young people and the avoidance of any form of abuse of minors in the future. “We again addressed the issue of emotional and affective maturity with young priests in 2012, and this year in August we will address the issue of sexual abuse with newly ordained priests and younger brothers,” said Father Chambers. “Additionally, our novices and young seminarians based in Fiji will continue to study a comprehensive program dealing with human sexuality, sexual maturity and responsibility, and the management of addictive behaviour at the Pacific Regional Seminary in Suva." This and other testimony is being given to the national royal commission in Australia, tasked with looking into institutions who care for children, including all churches, not just the Catholic church. Late last month, after already receiving submissions from more than 1,400 people, the commission launched a national campaign urging sex abuse victims to come forward and “share their story.” - With reporting from Associated Press, The Wire, Boston Globe, Dallas Morning News, Daily Telegraph, The Age
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