The Society of Jesus in Catalonia is in the eye of the hurricane due to the accusations of pedophilia by Catalan religious of this order in Bolivia and due to the complaints of sexual abuse presented by former students of the Jesuïtes Casp school in Barcelona. The Jesuits have announced this Wednesday that they have requested "external help" and that they have hired the Roca Junyent law firm to settle their own responsibilities.
This has been announced by Enric Puiggròs, delegate of the Society of Jesus in Catalonia and president of the board of trustees of the Jesuit Education Foundation, on which its network of schools depends. The congregation has followed the same steps as the Episcopal Conference of Spain regarding cases of pederasty: internal investigation, condemnation of the facts and hiring of a legal office for an audit.
In the case of the Spanish bishops, the office chosen has been Cremades
It is not easy to establish a definitive number of complainants and denounced, he said, because "not all the victims have come to us and have preferred to make their case surface through the press." It is an understandable attitude, he added, "because it is not always easy to return to the institution where the abuses were committed in the past." Two of the main ones mentioned so far, Fathers Roma and Peris, "are separated".
Both were already "subject to the minimum possible apostolic activity," said Enric Puiggròs. However, to questions from the press, the delegate of the Society of Jesus in Catalonia acknowledged that the first of them, Francesc Roma, was officiating masses in the Sagrat Cor church, in the same Eixample block where the school and annex to its facilities, "until three weeks ago".
The priest who replaced him in the offices, Mosen Puig (nothing to do with Enric Puiggròs) read during his homily two weeks ago a statement that admitted malpractice in the past and that Father Roma was reflecting on what had happened, without openly admitting the blame. Last Sunday, his regular parishioners organized to write a letter in support of him.
The letter, written in Catalan and reproduced above, acknowledges that "we have failed to consider the members of the Church as angels fallen from heaven (...) and not as humans, with their defects and virtues." The promoters of the measure praise the religious, who was prevented by the Society of Jesus from presenting a book at its facilities when the scandal broke out, regardless of his mistakes.
"If 40 years or more ago there was an isolated, unfortunate behavior, this does not erase the fact that day after day, holiday to holiday, the faithful left [your homilies] full of the Spirit." Enric Puiggròs, however, was very distant from this condescending attitude in his appearance and regretted that the statute of limitations for crimes makes it impossible for ordinary justice to take action on the matter in most cases.
The fact that some complaints "go back to 25, 30, 40 or 50 years ago, when there were no protocols, makes it impossible to request an external audit because there are no instances to confront what was done." But the internal investigation remains, which can be put in external hands, even if it seems a contradiction. In addition to the Roca law firm, the Society of Jesus has asked for help from a mediating entity.
It is the Association for Mediation, Meeting and Listening, a non-profit entity that aspires to "transform society and promote restorative justice", putting victims and criminals in contact. The Jesuits, who also have the help of the Vicki Bernadet Foundation against sexual abuse, have made themselves available to the Mossos, and the unions of greuges of Catalonia and Barcelona.
Why have they done it? "To analyze what has happened and settle the responsibilities that we have to assume." Although it is impossible in 100% of cases, the wish of the congregation would be for ordinary justice to intervene. “Victims have every right in the world to go to ordinary justice. In fact, and despite the prescription, we encourage them to do so. If there are responsibilities, we will accept them."
It is not enough to "condemn, regret and apologize for the mistakes of the past", explained the head of the network of Jesuit schools in Catalonia. The institution has adopted the protocols of the Generalitat and gives training courses and prevention of abuses to all its students and staff. Does that exhaustively avoid all risks? "Not absolutely, but we can prevent them," said Enric Puiggròs.
