Bishops, priests challenged to support clerical abuse victims

By Fr. Shay Cullen

The hope and dream of the late pope Francis was to reform the Catholic Church and make it a synodal church at every level, where everyone — laypeople, priests and bishops — are considered equal before God and Jesus of Nazareth, working together, sharing thoughts, listening and learning from one another, and participating humbly in proclaiming the vision and values of the Gospel through action. This same hope and dream are also what motivates Francis’ successor, Pope Leo XIV. It’s a call for bishops and priests to be humble “washers of feet” and support child victims of clerical abuse, not with more words, but with action toward justice.

Francis began a synodal movement to restore the spirit of the early Church as Jesus began it: a spiritual and social movement with a mission to act on behalf of the poor and downtrodden. Those in the early Church lived the great values of truth, honesty, equality, justice, sharing, loving their neighbor, and believing they would transform society. Their shared mission was to do good, proclaim the truth, and oppose evil with determination and a commitment to justice.

Francis’ vision was to challenge conservative clerics who covered up child abuse by priests and who favored more the ruling elites and their goals, rather than being in solidarity with the poor and the oppressed, as Jesus was.

On Jan. 31, 2025, Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, following an international summit on the clerical abuse of children held at the University of the Philippines Diliman, said Filipinos should bring clerical perpetrators of child abuse to the civil authorities and win justice for the victims. This would be implementing the synodality that Francis had taught.

“We welcome initiatives intended to hold people in whatever form of authority accountable, including the Church. This is part of the pope’s call for a more synodal Church. The Church, being a human institution, is not exempt from sin and corruption,” Cardinal David said. “Please don’t hesitate to file complaints against abusive clerics, whether in the civil or Church forums.”

This is a new policy and direction: Civilians should not only report clerical abuse to police but also immediately file cases — with the help of prosecutors — against those committing them. This is a welcome departure from the denial and cover-up of the criminal activities of priests and the “sin and corruption” of some bishops in the past. A win for synodality and for Francis.

“Of course, we’re not always successful in this regard and we need the help and participation of our laypeople, including our professional journalists who are our allies in the quest for truth and fact-checking and the battle against disinformation,” Cardinal David said. This is also the common action of synodality.

The people of God are encouraged to defend the rights of abused children and fight for justice, especially in holding accused priests to account. Bishops should do the same, but some of them even protect these alleged abusers and can even pressure prosecutors and judges to dismiss the cases against them.

Here is a link to the names of priests in the database of 83 credibly accused or convicted priests in the Philippines, provided by BishopAccountability: https://www.bishop-accountability.org/philippine-database/. These are also posted on the Preda Foundation website: https://preda.org/82-clerics-with-philippine-ties-accused-of-child-sexual-abuse/.

‘David vs Goliath’ situation

When child victims complain of abuse, they automatically go up against the accused, well-supported priest. Bishops who protect pedophile priests and cover up their heinous crimes sometimes pay off the victims’ families or influence prosecutors and judges. They are hindering the attainment of justice.

Needless to say, our justice system is broken. It often takes years to secure justice despite a Supreme Court circular that mandates continuous hearings for child abuse cases. It is always a David-and-Goliath situation in such cases: the powerless child abuse survivor against his or her powerful abuser. He or she can only hope and pray for justice. Unfortunately, many abused children can’t endure the stress of the case; they give up when they are offered money to withdraw. That seems to be the strategy of defense lawyers, with the connivance of some judges. When this happens, it makes a mockery of the justice system in this country.

At least three priests are facing complaints in civil courts. One of them, Fr. Karole Reward Israel — currently in jail in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan province — has been on trial since 2023 for multiple rape and sexual-assault charges against a 15-year-old girl. Another, Fr. Serlito Villar in Cebu, who is accused of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old boy, is out on bail and has had his hearings postponed on several occasions. And the third, Fr. Conrad Mantac in Negros, was able to have his case of sexual assault against a young girl provisionally dismissed, but it was refiled before it was dismissed with finality. He is awaiting a long-delayed trial.

Most Filipino clergymen are committed to the Gospel message of standing for truth and justice. They know these words of Jesus: “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” (Matthew 18:6). They are disgusted and ashamed by all the abuse and cover-up and the dark cloud these hang over their ministry, but most are not free to speak out. They seem to have lost or surrendered their freedom to their superiors and the Church hierarchy, upon whom they depend. That is what synodality might change.

It is immoral, unjust and illegal to obstruct justice, yet some bishops still consider this their best strategy to avoid embarrassment, scandal and loss of trust and financial donations among the laity due to the clerical child abuse scandal.

A policy reversal could enhance the image of the Church. If bishops were to advise their pedophile priests to repent, publicly confess and accept due penance in a civil court, and help child victims win convictions, they would be regarded as heroes who defended the victims and cleansed the Church of its proverbial bad apples. However, there are now so many bad apples, the barrel containing them might now be contaminated.

Bishops, priests and all followers of Jesus of Nazareth are called to imitate him and be humble “washers of feet.” They will be greater in the Kingdom of Heaven by walking in the mud and dust than sitting on thrones in golden robes. Jesus said that he came to serve and not to be served. We need more to heed that call.