EDITORIAL – Defending the indefensible

The initial investigation conducted by the Cebu archdiocese into allegations that a priest molested several high school students from the Abellana National School during a Life in the Spirit Seminar has reportedly hit a snag.

According to the investigators, the students are having difficulty identifying who the priest was. The alleged abuse reportedly occurred as the priest was hearing confessions and was shielded from view inside the confessional.

According to reports, based on the accounts of the students, the priest allegedly extended his hand and touched and played with the bra straps of the students as he listened to their sins, and asked one of them for a date.

Most people do not believe the problem lies with the students having difficulty identifying the priest. Rather, they see it as a lame excuse by investigators for their reluctance to go after one of its own.

The investigators are not looking for a needle in a haystack. There could not have been more than five priests at the seminar. In fact, an archdiocesan official claims to have already talked to the priest, who denied the charge and vowed to meet his accusers at the right time.

If that is the case, then the investigators must know who the priest is. But granting they still don't know, then they can always invoke the wrath of God and ask the priest being alluded to, to come out, under pain of punishment with fire and brimstone if he does not.

Our suspicion is that the priest will not come out and his investigators are under the mistaken notion that coming out in the open with erring priests is not good for the interests of the Roman Catholic Church.

Whether they like it or not, people now demand more openness. While their faith in God and the Holy Mother Church remains steadfast and abiding, their respect for the shepherds of the flock is being eroded by bad examples shown by erring priests who get away with their sins.