The Dominican Order in Wrocław has expressed remorse for the abuse that had been taking place within its walls 20 years ago. "We turn to you with deep shame and sorrow. We stand before you in truth, which keeps on unveiling its horrific countenance despite the passing of time" - the Dominicans said in a statement in which they also declared to fully investigate the case.
A Dominican priest is said to have used physical and psychologic violence against at least of dozen of women. Some of the victims accuse the priest of rape. The horror lasted for several years.
In a statement published on Sunday, March 7, the brothers of the Convent of St. Wojciech in Wrocław wrote that between 1996 and 2000, an intense mechanism resembling religious sect was in operation within the Wrocław Chaplaincy.
"The testimonies of the victims – adults at that time – convince us today that the then priest, under the guise of piety, caused great harm to the faithful, using physical, mental, spiritual and even sexual violence. The history of this abuse seems distant, but it reaches us in a vivid way through the victims who have suffered for years" - the statement reads.
The Dominicans also admitted that "the more facts they learn, the clearer it becomes that the help offered to the victims at the time was had not been enough given the scale of the wrongdoing and the Order had not done all it could to alleviate them and restore their sense of justice".
"Although none of us had done or witnessed that evil, we - the Wrocław Dominicans - feel responsible for those events and we express solidarity with those who had fallen victim in this here place" - the Dominican Order said. The Prior Provincial of the Province of Poland, Father Paweł Kozacki, said in a statement that he 'supports the steps taken by his confreres in Wrocław aimed at examining the dark pages of the Dominicans' past, to make amends and to atone to the victims, as well as to learn about the mechanisms of this tragedy in order for those guilty to face consequences and to prevent evil from happening in the future.
"None of the Wrocław cases pertain to paedophilia, and I would also like to inform that, in the coming weeks, in all Dominican churches, we shall be asking people to report cases of sexual abuse of minors perpetrated by the Dominicans" - said Father Kozacki. He reassured that an independent commission, composed of secular members, would investigate the reports.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: TVN24