The arrest of 48-year-old Fr Robin Vadakkumchery, priest of a Parish church in Kannur district, for raping a 16-year-old girl has added to the embarrassment of the Catholic Church in Kerala just when it was making attempts to control clerical sex abuse in accordance with a recent Papal directive that asked Bishops not to tolerate child sexual abuse by clergy.
The Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC) is thinking of formulating a protocol for priests and nuns who interact with students — both boys and girls — in institutions like schools run by the Church, according to sources. The 16-year-old victim of sex abuse in Kannur, who gave birth to a baby on February 7, was a Plus 1 student of a school of which the accused was the manager.
“Such situations should not arise. We are extremely pained by the Kannur incident,” said a senior bishop of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church to which Fr Robin belonged. “These are individuals’ personal falls but, of course, the Church has its responsibility too,” he said. Ironically, Robin was known in his parish for his fiery speeches against child sexual abuse.
Kerala has witnessed several child sex abuse scandals involving Christian priests. On December 8 last, a court awarded double life imprisonment to Fr Edwin Figarez, a parish priest of the latin Catholic Church for raping a 14-year-old girl at the parsonage of his church at Puthenvelikkara in Ernakulam district.
Figarez was the first Catholic priest in Kerala to be punished under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, provisions of which had been slapped on Robin also. If Figarez had lured his victim to his parsonage by exploiting her interest in music, Robin had allegedly taken the minor girl to the parsonage using his influence as manager of her school.
Fr James Thekkemuriyil, rector of a seminary in Kannur district, was arrested in October last year for sexually assaulting a 21-year-old seminarian. Fr Raju Kokkan (44), a parish priest belonging to the Thrissur Archdiocese of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, was arrested in May, 2014 for sexually abusing a ten-year-old girl at the parsonage of his church.
The senior bishop admitted that the top leadership of the Catholic Church and the KCBC had not been able to ensure that the priests coming under their command did not violate spiritual vows. “We want all those in the spiritual service to keep their personal and spiritual cleanliness. It seems that some rules or protocol would have to be brought about for this,” he said.
The top clergy of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church and the KCBC are also worried about the charge that Robin might have got help for keeping the scandal concealed from the authorities of the hospital where the girl had given birth to a baby boy and the staff of the school where she was studying - both controlled by the Church.
Robin, who had gone into hiding after he got information that a search was on for him, was taken into custody from Chalakudy, Thrissur while he was preparing to flee to Canada on Monday evening. He was remanded in custody for two days by a court in Kannur on Tuesday. The accused has already admitted to the police that he had raped the minor girl.
“On Sunday, he had asked us to pray for him as he would be leaving for Canada. But at that time we had no knowledge of what he had done or about the actual reason why he was planning to go to Canada,” said a member of the parish near Kottiyoor, Kannur where Robin was priest. “It seems that he is an expert at the art of deceit,” she added.