Wednesday, March 05, 2008 Don't feast on charge vs. priest
THE archdiocese will respect and allow the courts to resolve the case against the priest earlier accused of lascivious acts while hearing the confessions of high school students in 2006, said Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal.
At the same time, Vidal said he is asking the Catholic flock not to “feast” on the issue by not generalizing the act as common to all priests, including him, as one radio commentary did.
Twenty students complained that Fr. Benedicto Ejares touched them inappropriately while they were attending a Life in the Spirit Seminar organized by Catholic charismatic group Oasis of Love held at their school last Nov. 14, 2006.
Toyed with bra
They claimed that as they took turns in the confessional, Ejares placed his arms around them, stroked their arms, their backs, and toyed with the straps of their bras.
After seeking out these students who made their complaints known through the media, the National Bureau of Investigation filed complaints against the priest.
In a TV Patrol report, Cardinal Vidal revealed that Ejares and his lawyer visited him yesterday morning to inform him about the updates of the case the priest was accused of.
While he was saddened that the high school students immediately went to other institutions not directly involved in the case, like the media, Vidal reiterated his request to the students to visit and talk with him.
Three of these students, now in their fourth year in high school, said in the same news report that they were happy with the progress of case.
The Office of the Cebu City Prosecutor, after reversing its position in a resolution it issued in October last year, recently resolved to file a criminal case against Ejares.
City Prosecutor Nicolas Sellon said there is only one basis to file one criminal case for child abuse against Ejares because “there was only one criminal impulse as the respondent committed these acts in unbroken succession and similar fashion with each act being closely connected to each other.” (NRC)
