A report by a commission of 22 legal professionals, doctors, historians, sociologists and theologians, which will be unveiled on Tuesday, will show that about 3000 pedophiles have operated within the French Roman Catholic Church since 1950. This has not really come as a surprise, but rather than take any pleasure in the discomfiture the Church might face, those in Pakistan should take note of who set up the commission, which is issuing the 2500-page report: the Conference of French Bishops.
That the Roman Catholic Church has had a problem is well-known, as country after country has admitted to this particular evil. It perhaps is inevitable when one has either celibate organizations, or enforced single-sex segregation among boarders. Similar stories leak out of madressahs, but instead of treating them as occasions for self-accounting and reform, the religious loyalty of all clerics is called forth, and the scandalous revelations are treated as an attack by irreligious forces on the faith itself. While reprehensible, it strains the imagination to hear the persistent denials. Even though there is no exact parallel to the Conference, because the problem centers around the madressahs, maybe the Various Wifaqul Madaris could commission such a study. There can be no reform unless the leading teachers deal with the problem, and obtain some information about what the ground situation is like.
One of the biggest differences between Pakistan and the countries where the problem has been tackled has been the willingness of victims to come forward. A justice system that enables victims to come forward under cover of secrecy is one way. Some of the prosecutions of offending priests have been because of suits for damages, which have led to victims coming forward. Some similar incentivization may be necessary to make victims come forward. That the problem is there, can no longer be swept under the carpet, as the guilty would like. It is up to the stakeholders, which includes all those conducting single-sex boarding establishments, to reform themselves, which means gathering accurate information for a start, even if it involves a certain amount of initial embarrassment. It should be realized that the French Bishops have acted first, before someone else, perhaps inimical to Church, does so first.
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