Belgium clergy abuse tied to suicides

September 11, 2010|Associated Press

BRUSSELS — Hundreds of sex abuse victims have come forward in Belgium with harrowing accounts of molestation by Catholic clergy that reportedly led to at least 13 suicides and affected children as young as 2, a special commission said yesterday.

Professor Peter Adriaenssens, chairman of the commission, said the abuse in Belgium may have been even more rampant than the 200-page report suggests.

“Reality is worse than what we present here today because not everyone shares such things automatically in a first contact with the commission,’’ he told reporters.

Adriaenssens, a child psychiatrist who has worked with trauma victims for 23 years, said nothing had prepared him for the stories. .

“We don’t just talk about touching. We are talking about oral and anal abuse, forced masturbation, and mutual masturbation. We talk about people who have gone through serious abuse,’’ Adriaenssens said.

Most of the abuse happened during the 1960s and 1970s, he said. Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard of Belgium said he would react Monday to the report. The Vatican had no immediate comment.

But Tournai Bishop Guy Harpigny, who deals with the issue for the church, praised Adriaenssens’s work and told VRT television that “now, the time has come to listen to the victims.’’

The report said 507 witnesses came forward with stories of molestation by clergy members. Family members or friends said 13 victims committed suicide that “was related to sexual abuse by clergy,’’ it said. Six other witnesses said they had attempted suicide.