After expose on Simala shrine: Ex-monk files libel raps vs. Cardinal

CEBU, Philippines - The former monk, who exposed the alleged fraudulent and lascivious acts inside the famous Marian Monks of the Eucharistic Adoration monastery in Upper Lindogon, Sibonga, yesterday filed a criminal complaint for libel against Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal and three other priests, who have caused the publication of an alleged defamatory notice to the public against him.

Venancio Cabillon, who is known in his religious name as Frater Paul Mary, also named his former prior superior Frater Martin Mary, Rev. Fr. Marnel Mejia and Msgr. Cristobal Garcia as respondents in the criminal complaint he filed before the Cebu Provincial Prosecutor’s Office.

The cardinal was impleaded in the complaint for giving his imprimatur to the publication while Mejia and Garcia are included being editor and business director of the Bag-ong Lungsoranon, a church-based publication.

The case stemmed from the publication of the notice to the public which saw print in Bag-ong Lungsoranon on its August 9 issue.

The publication gave notice to the public that Cabillon is no longer connected with the Marian Monks Monastery in Simala, Sibonga since January 8.

The publication gave warning to the public that he is no longer allowed to engage any transaction on behalf of the congregation or to solicit funds.

The publication also stated the grounds for his disconnection with the monastery.

According to the publication, Cabillon “commits grave faults against the religious vows of the order, as a trafficker of our own members of religious formation, and also violates the vows of chastity and obedience.”

Cabillon objected to the grounds cited in the publication as basis for his disconnection with the congregation saying these were “false” and “malicious.”

While he admitted being a “homosexual,” Cabillon denied all the grounds mentioned in the publication.

Cabillon said he understand that the monastery was trying to prevent the public from giving donations to him in case he would solicit on behalf of the Marian monks because he was no longer connected with them.

However, he said he “cannot comprehend” why the grounds of his alleged disconnection were added to the publication.

“Everything came as a surprise to me,” Cabillon said.

He explained that his disconnection from the congregation was not based on the grounds cited in the publication.

Cabillon said he served as a Marian Monk for 17 years starting as an ordinary member until he became a Perpetual, a position he held before he resigned on January 8 and requested for his transfer to the monastery of Our Lady of Marangog in Hilongos Leyte.

Cabillon said he requested for transfer because he could no longer cope with his “daily struggles as a cloistered monk” in Cebu.

According to him, there are “weird” and “unpleasant” activities inside the monastery, which he said are “very repugnant and contradicting” to his conscience, vows and religious beliefs.

He remembered the “humble beginnings” of the Simala shrine where he said they “literally started from scratch.”

Cabillon said that because of the “fraudulent” acts they have gained attention and financial support from the devotees not only in the country but as well as from abroad.

Cabillon alleged that the monks in Simala, Sibonga are “living in a world of lies and deceptions like creating seeming miracles on Mama Mary shedding tears of blood, crying and other shenanigans.”

He added that like him, some of the monks in the Lindogon Shrine fell prey to the “temptations of lust and worldly sinful weaknesses by engaging in sodomy.”

Cabillon attached in his complaint several pictures showing some of the monks wearing gowns during an alleged “Miss Gay Beauty Pageant” inside the monastery.

Cabillon also attached the affidavit of a former aspirant, Calvin Torres, who confirmed the alleged anomalous practices inside the monastery.

“The shrine had long been tarnished and lost its humility and modesty through their unfettered sacrilegious acts,” Cabillon said.

The complainant said that granting that the grounds mentioned in the publications were true, he was not also given due process to defend himself.

In fact, Cabillon said, he was never summoned by Cardinal Vidal during a hearing to answer the charges before his alleged dismissal from the order.

Dr. Edwin Fonghe, who is supporting Cabillon, said they are sending copies of the complaint to the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, Papal Nuncio and Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican City in Rome.

Fonghe said he believes that Cardinal Vidal violated Title III, Canon 1450 of the Canon Law, an internal ecclesiastical law governing the Roman Catholic Church, in allowing the publication of the grounds in which Cabillon was dismissed from the order.

The provision of the Canon Law provides that the grounds and the proceedings in which a member of the church is dismissed should have been kept in “secret.” 

Fonghe and Cabillon told reporters that they are not worried that they will not be able to obtain justice in the land because of the influence that the respondents hold.

“We might lose in the Philippine territory but we will win in heaven,” Fonghe said.

He added that they really had no intention of filing a criminal complaint had the respondents adhere to their request for public apology.

According to them, they have waited for several weeks for the respondents to apologize but they refused. —/NLQ   (FREEMAN NEWS)