Accused priest solicits adverts for religious magazine

By Tim Diacono
Malta Today
February 9, 2015

http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/49386/accused_priest_solicits_adverts_for_religious_magazine#.VNikU_nF-So

Fr Charles Fenech, the Dominican friar charged with sexually assaulting a mentally unstable patient, is soliciting people for adverts in the February issue of a religious magazine. 

The magazine in question, Xandar il-Kelma, is published by the Maltese Dominican Province. An e-mail written by Fenech and seen by MaltaToday reads: “I am forwarding to you this attachment for advertising in a special edition of XK Magazine, Malta’s No 1 religious magazine distributed in households. Can you please help us by confirming an advert. Thanks, Fr. Charles Fenech OP.” 

The attachment is a poster of Pope Francis, with the words Xandar il-Kelma: The No. 1 Religious Magazine in Malta: 70,000 copies’ superimposed over it. 

The poster includes the advertising rates and a message from Fenech, editor-in-chief of the magazine.

“Outside Western Europe, a lot of people still believe in God,” Fenech’s message reads. “Here, we tend to regard religion as passé – something they did centuries ago, when unenlightened Europeans took the advice of burning bushes. But out beyond the EU, millions of people stubbornly continue to put their faith in the Almighty. The West may enjoy comparative power and wealth, but our attachment to secular liberalism is a minority opinion”.

However, Dominican Provincial Fr Frans Micallef told MaltaToday that there was nothing inappropriate with Fenech’s solicitations for adverts, despite the court case that is hanging over his head.

Fenech, who founded the Kerygma movement, is facing charges of sexual abuse against a mentally unstable patient, holding the woman against her will and committing indecent acts in public.

One of Fenech’s victims testified in court that the friar had “targeted vulnerable women” and that she knew of at least 15 other women who claim to have fallen for Fenech’s advances.  

An alleged victim who spoke to MaltaToday claimed she was offered a “hefty sum” by Archbishop Emeritus Paul Cremona to remain silent – an allegation strongly denied by the Curia.

The case was brought before the Church’s Response Team when Archbishop Emeritus Joseph Mercieca was at the helm of the Maltese archdiocese, with internal investigations continuing when Cremona, who like Fenech is a Dominican friar, was appointed Archbishop in 2007.

Despite knowing of the allegations, Fenech was not removed from his position as director of the Kerygma Movement.

The case will continue next month, but Fenech has already been removed from his post as Kerygma director and prohibited from administering the sacraments.