A report confirming that physical and psychological abuse had taken place in a Church home for children run by Dominican nuns in Gozo was published last week.
Two years after Gozo Bishop Mgr Mario Grech appointed a commission following claims made by a number of people who, as children, had stayed in Lourdes Home, the final report made it clear that, in the words of Mgr Grech, “inadmissible behaviour involving minors” had taken place some years ago.
The Gozo Curia did not publish the commission’s findings, but in a letter signed by Mgr Grech made it evident that such behaviour should never have taken place. The bishop has asked for forgiveness for all that happened, promising that steps will be taken so that such occurrences do not take place again.
In asking for forgiveness, Mgr Grech has taken responsibility for what took place so many years ago, even though it happened when he was not the head of the Gozitan diocese. In so doing, he showed that the Church, under his guidance, is not ready to accept any kind of behaviour that goes against the human being, particularly those who are under the Church’s own responsibility.
But the Gozo diocese should not have stopped there. The report submitted by the commission, headed by former Judge Victor Caruana Colombo, should be made public together with the recommendations that the commission made to “ensure that such abuses would never happen again”.
It is only by doing so that the Gozo diocese would come completely clean on the matter. The public has the right to know what the recommendations are and, more importantly, how the diocese intends to endorse them completely. It is only in this way that the behaviour of religious people with children (and adults, for that matter) under their care can be monitored.
These recommendations, which Mgr Grech said have been passed on to the Mother Superior of Lourdes Home, should also be extended to other homes where children are taken care of, in Malta too perhaps. They should serve as guidelines to all those who are responsible for children in institutions – and it must be said that if all children are vulnerable, children in institutions are even more so considering their personal situation.
The victims of the abuse that took place should be commended for their courage to speak up, mostly because through their actions the rights of other children in the position they were in so many years ago will be safeguarded better. Their public declarations must have caused them personal pain and suffering, but at the end of the day opened the way for better treatment of children staying in Church institutions.
Having said all this, it must be pointed out that the many nuns and other religious people who work with children are doing exceptional work, and the “inadmissible behaviour” of a few should not dampen the fact that these people are sacrificing their lives for the sake of others.
If a lawyer is caught stealing or a doctor is caught abusing a patient it does not mean that all lawyers and doctors are criminals. Likewise, the fact that a nun abused of her position does not mean that all of them do so.
Mgr Grech himself acknowledged this by commending the work carried out by the Sisters “with great love and dedication” over a long period of time. The wrong behaviour of a few should never spoil the sterling work that is done by others.
Lessons have been learnt from what happened at Lourdes Home. What is important is that the mistakes that have been committed will not be repeated.