Saturday, April 14, 2007 Editorials: Archdiocese’s dilemma
THE Archdiocese of Cebu is again in a bind.
This after a complaint was filed against Fr. Benedicto Ejares for alleged lascivious conduct while hearing confession at the Abellana National School.
While the archdiocese got away with its refusal to identify the priest when the issue cropped up in November last year, the situation has changed.
It can no longer wallow in the thought, for example, that since the complainants have not identified the priest then its inaction is justifiable.
The National Bureau of Investigation has pointed to Ejares as the alleged perpetrator and an Ejares is in the list of priests serving the archdiocese.
(The NBI, though, has to reconcile the name “Benjamin” Ejares in the roster of priests found in the website of the archdiocese with “Benedicto” Ejares in the Bureau’s records.)
In this sense, the archdiocese saying that it does not know Ejares’ whereabouts won't wash.
Ejares’ move
The burden on the archdiocese, however, can be lightened considerably if Ejares himself will voluntarily come out and answer the complaint (or, okay, clarify that he is not “Benedicto”).
That will initially be difficult considering the media exposure.
But his name has already been made public so that even if he will not come out he will still be mentioned in reports and talked about not only by the media but by all those who know him.
Besides, it will be more humiliating if a warrant is issued and law enforcers arrest him.
Public perception
If Ejares will insist on hiding, however, the better option for the archdiocese is to exercise its administrative hold on the priest by persuading or ordering him to surface.
(Informing authorities on Ejares’ whereabouts can be considered as a last option for the archdiocese because it gives the impression that his superiors are giving him away.)
In the end, however, the archdiocese must reckon with public perception that it prefers to protect priests accused of misdemeanor instead of serving the cause of justice and the law.
Its failure to help authorities in pushing Ejares to face the complaint, added to its earlier refusal to help in identifying him, won’t be good for the image of the archdiocese.
Worse, it could alienate further some of the faithful from the Church.
