Belgian Bishop who molested nephew admits on TV he abused another but says it was superficial and not pedophilia

Reuters   -   April 15, 2011

Belgium urges harsh punishment for sex abuse bishop

By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor

PARIS (Reuters) - Belgium's justice minister urged the Vatican on Friday to impose stiff punishment on a disgraced Catholic bishop who denies being a paedophile despite admitting to sexually abusing two of his own nephews.

Stefaan de Clerck spoke out amid a media uproar after former Bruges Bishop Roger Vangheluwe defended himself on television by saying the abuse he committed was only "superficial."

Vangheluwe, who quit his post and went into hiding a year ago after admitting to molesting a nephew, confessed in the interview on Thursday evening that he had molested a second one.

He left Belgium last week under Vatican orders to seek "spiritual and psychological treatment" abroad and Belgian media say he is now in a French monastery. The Vatican has said the final decision on disciplining him lies with Pope Benedict.

"The Church must take up this case and see what sanction it should impose. It should be much more severe and much more complete than what has been said up until now," De Clerck, a Christian Democrat, told RTL radio.

"We expect the Church to punish him," he said. "They told him to leave the country -- that was also to shut him up. Making comments trying to minimise what happened is unacceptable."

VATICAN RELUCTANT TO PUNISH

The Vatican has been reluctant to impose stiff punishments on bishops found guilty of covering up sexual abuse of youths by priests under their authority.

Three bishops in Ireland and one in Germany have resigned but others accused of mismanagement have held onto their jobs.

Vangheluwe is the only admitted sexual abuser among the disgraced bishops and risks being defrocked if the Vatican should decide to impose the stiff punishment that Catholic critics of the hierarchy say is needed.

Clearly exasperated at the Church's defensive response to the scandals sapping its moral authority, De Clerck also called on the Belgian Catholic hierarchy to compensate abuse victims as recommended by a parliamentary commission.

Brussels Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard, who is head of the Belgian bishops conference, has caused controversy by saying the Church had no obligation to compensate victims.

In his interview, Vangheluwe told VT4 television he was sorry for molesting his nephews but did not consider himself a paedophile or see the acts as anything serious.

"It had nothing to do with sexuality," he said. "I have often been involved with children and I never felt the slightest attraction. It was a certain intimacy that took place."

"I don't have the impression at all that I am a paedophile. It was really just a small relationship. I did not have the feeling that my nephew was against it, quite the contrary."

NEPHEW BLEW THE WHISTLE

The nephew who Vangheluwe admitted to abusing for 13 years went public with his painful secret last year, saying he could no longer keep quiet and wanted to expose his uncle's actions.

Vangheluwe said he had paid the nephew sums of about 25,000 euros (22,110 pounds) on a number of occasions but this did not buy his silence.

In both cases, his abuse occurred years ago and can no longer be prosecuted, a justice official told Belgian radio.

"Vangheluwe is a sick man who doesn't realise what he's spewing out. He doesn't show the least bit of regret for the evil he has done," the Brussels newspaper De Morgen wrote.

"Shocking, disgusting, monstrous -- which word will end up being the best to describe Roger Vangheluwe's comments?"

"How can this man dare show himself on television?" the daily Gazet van Antwerpen asked. "For the love of God, how could someone like that become a bishop?"

(Additional reporting by Philip Blenkinsop in Brussels; editing by Mark Heinrich)

This article was found at:

http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE73E2E820110415

*************************************************************************
TIME   -  April 15, 2011

Just 'a Game': Outrage as Shamed Belgian Priest Downplays Child Abuse

By Leo Cendrowicz / Brussels

Former Bishop of Bruges Roger Vangheluwe is seen in this 2007 photo. The Vatican has sanctioned Vangheluwe, who resigned last year after admitting he had sexually abused his nephew
Peter Maenhoudt / AP


The Belgian Catholic Church must have felt it hit a nadir last year when it had to face harrowing revelations of rampant child sex abuse among its priesthood. However, the church's reputation is now at a new low, thanks to the ill-judged comments of the disgraced former Bishop of Bruges, who in April 2010 admitted to abusing his nephew. Belgians have been left in open-mouthed disbelief after the airing of a TV interview with Roger Vangheluwe in which he glossed over his history of abusing children.

Speaking on Belgian television on Thursday evening, April 14, Vangheluwe, 74, said he had in fact abused a second nephew as well. That would have been shocking enough: last year, when Vangheluwe initially owned up to the abuse — and stepped down as bishop — the move unleashed a flood of revelations by other victims of abuse in the church.

But it was no tearful confession that Belgians witnessed on Thursday. Looking relaxed and sometimes smiling, Vangheluwe described the sexual abuse as no more than "a little piece of intimacy." While he claimed to recognize that he had done wrong and said he often went to confession about it, Vangheluwe played down his actions. "I had the strong impression that my nephew didn't mind at all. On the contrary. It was not brutal sex. I never used bodily, physical violence," he said. The abuse of his first nephew, in the 1970s and '80s, he said, "started as, I would call it, a game." At the time, the boy was just 5, and the abuse would last 13 years. The abuse of the second nephew, he said, was "merely over a year." Despite this, Vangheluwe insisted, "I don't have the impression at all that I am a pedophile." Following the interview, the first nephew said through his lawyer that he did not want to comment; the identity of the second nephew is not yet known.

The interview drew almost immediate rebuke. Prime Minister Yves Leterme said Vangheluwe's remarks "go beyond the boundary of what is acceptable" and called on the Catholic Church to "assume its responsibilities." Vice Prime Minister Laurette Onkelinx said the interview was "disgusting," adding that Vangheluwe "showed a complete disdain for his victims." Justice Minister Stefaan De Clerck urged the Vatican to punish the former bishop. "It is a slap in the face of his victims and all victims," he said. And Carina Van Cauter, vice chair of the parliamentary committee investigating sexual abuse, said Vangheluwe "tried to turn his victims into culprits. He throws salt in their wounds."

The church also responded fiercely, with bishops lining up to condemn Vangheluwe. The Bishop of Ghent, Luc Van Looy, said he was "ashamed, shocked, upset and angry. By trivializing the abuse, Vangheluwe is deepening the indescribable suffering of victims." Josef De Kesel, Vangheluwe's successor as Bishop of Bruges, said, "It's unbelievable, and so damaging for all involved — firstly the victims, but also us, our credibility."

Victims groups reacted with weary disgust. "I was angry but not surprised," says Linda Opdebeeck, president of the support group Human Rights in the Church. "[Vangheluwe] is just like the monk who abused me 30 years ago and never accepted any responsibility. Vangheluwe will never recognize what he did, never understand the gravity of his actions, even though it was legal rape."

Gabriel Ringlet, a priest and influential Catholic figure in Belgium, says that while Vangheluwe's interview was repulsive, it also risks undermining the wider campaign against child abuse. "If we focus too much on him, we might forget the bigger problems," says Ringlet, who has urged the church to issue an unequivocal apology, punish the pedophiles and compensate victims. "The pedophilia is linked to the church's authority. When the priest suggests his abuse is part of his holy function, it is difficult for a child or parishioner to denounce him."

Despite his admission, Vangheluwe does not face criminal prosecution, because the abuses occurred decades ago, beyond Belgium's statute of limitations for sex abuse. The Vatican had sent the former bishop to an abbey in the Loire valley in France weeks ago for "spiritual and psychological treatment" in the wake of last year's abuse admission. It's not known whether the church knew of his second victim. Vangheluwe could be stripped of his priesthood, but that was also an option following his first abuse confession — and it still hasn't happened.

Nor has there been much progress in Belgium over the past year when it comes to abuse by clergy. As the scandal has escalated, the head of the Belgian Church, Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard, has been reluctant to take firm action beyond a vague expression of regret. Léonard, an archconservative who frequently conducts mass in Latin, is widely seen as being out of touch with his flock. Two weeks ago, he was targeted by custard-pie-throwing activists angry over his description of AIDS as a kind of "intrinsic justice" punishing gays.

Dirk Jacobs, a sociology professor at Brussels Free University, says the Vatican must act forcefully now if it wants to salvage some of its credibility and moral authority in Belgium and abroad. "But it might still be seen as too little, too late," Jacobs says. "The image we have is of the church as an institution of power, foremost worried about its reputation, disconnected from the real world and with a twisted view of sexuality." However, there is little indication that the Vatican is ready for an image overhaul. And one year after he resigned in disgrace, Roger Vangheluwe appears — like the Vatican — to be in denial about the problem.

This article was found at:

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2065579,00.html

RELATED ARTICLES ON THIS BLOG:

Belgian bishop who resigned for sex abuse of nephew sent to Vatican, Archbishop gets pied by protesters


Audio tapes reveal Belgian Cardinal pressuring victim to stay silent about serial sex abuse by his uncle, a Belgian Bishop


Victim of Belgian bishop who resigned for child abuse was his nephew who tried to warn church leaders for 25 years


Belgian priest admits he sexually abused 8 year old cousin, stops campaign to nominate him for Nobel Peace Prize


Belgian archbishop wants mercy for retired pedophile priests but shows no empathy for victims, government starts investigation


Head of church-backed probe into Belgian clergy crimes says the Pope must set an example and resign


Growing number of Belgians join global movement to de-baptize from Catholic church


Belgian prosecutors open judicial inquiry into past sex abuse at institution for children run by nuns


Belgium's Catholic primate faces demands to step down after controversial remarks on pedophile priests and AIDS

Crisis of moral authority and credibility for Belgian Catholic church after decades of clergy abuse that destroyed lives


Head of church-backed probe into Belgian clergy crimes says the Pope must set an example and resign


Belgian Catholic Church claims it feared financial losses as reason for no apology, but culture of secrecy may be main reason


Belgian Archbishop acknowledges widespread rape and abuse in every church sector throughout the nation


Court says evidence seized in Belgian Catholic church raids can't be used, probe finds hundreds of clergy abuse cases


Belgian law enforcement's aggressive raid of Catholic church explained by cultural forces


Belgian bishop says media storm triggered his resignation for sex crimes he committed against boy while bishop


Belgian police raid Catholic headquarters and independent abuse commission over concerns of continuing cover-up by church leaders


Dan Rather exposes Catholic tactics to shield assets from liability in abuse cases, SNAP founder compares Belgium raids to Toledo case


Fugitive priest hiding in Belgium and Lourdes, France sent back to Canadian territory Nunavut to face sex abuse charges