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Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Seares: Sin, crime of a priest
By Pachico A. Seares
News Sense
Distinguish sin from crime, Msgr. Achilles Dakay, Archdiocese media liaison officer, said in Sunday’s Sun.Star Cebu.
“Mons” compared a sinning priest to a married spouse who has sex outside marriage: “sala gyod” (a sin indeed).
“Mons” commented on a March 2005 story published in Dallas News and revived in an Internet-run plea by two former altar boys about a priest, now in Cebu, who abused them in the United States nearly 20 years ago.
The victims are asking that the priest cease doing church functions that include supervising young people. (Names of priest and victims are withheld by Sun.Star Cebu.)
Dallas News reported that the priest admitted having slept with the boys but alleged blackmail that threatened exposure if he refused them sex and drugs.
Clemency
One victim is suing a religious order and an archdiocese in the US. The other filed a separate case that ended in money settlement.
Cardinal Vidal, after reviewing the order’s findings, granted clemency.
Crime may no longer be established in court. Many years have passed and victims apparently don’t want the priest jailed, just barred from church work that puts youths at risk.
Crime is not the issue anymore. (By the way, there was a crime, admitted by the priest but not decided in a criminal case.)
Sin is something else. Its burden the sinner must live with and, as priests remind parishioners, even endure beyond this life.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (July 4, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here.
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