My comments regarding sexual abuse allegations against a supposed Catholic priest from Nigeria
Last updated on 11th Feb. 2018
In the post contents below I chose to not name the person who, I am told, claims to be a Catholic priest from Nigeria. Those who would like to know the name and other details can do so by visiting the Facebook post links provided below.
Given below are my comments from this Facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/terry.reiskennedy/posts/10215715094329172, dated 8th Feb. 2018.
I (Ravi) wrote (slightly edited):
Terry Reis Kennedy, I greatly appreciate the painful, thankless and difficult work that you have done in this regard by contacting Mr. Leonardo Gutter of Prasanthi Council, and then sharing his response with us on Facebook, which is perhaps the most popular and so most important social media platform for Sathya Sai devotees worldwide. I also thank Mr. Leonardo Pablo Gutter of Prasanthi Council for writing to you and telling you that his response can be shared publicly on Facebook. I have OK'd the post to be shared on my Timeline so that the information is shared with my readers too.
Whether the accused, --Name-snipped--, is guilty of the heinous and sickening crimes of sexual abuse that he has been accused of, is for a court of law to decide.
However, I think it is the duty of elders in the Sathya Sai fraternity to widely circulate the accusations so that people can be aware of them and be very careful in their dealings, if any, with the accused.
I personally strongly believe in the principle of presumption of innocence until proved guilty in a court of law. So I will not say that the accused, --Name-snipped--, is a child molester and sexual predator as that has not been proved yet.
However, I do suspect him to be involved in such bad and evil actions, due to the weight of the accusations against him which has been supported by senior and respectable people in Sathya Sai fraternity.
I must also state here that if the accused has only been involved in consensual sexual relations with adults then it is a different matter. That would not be a crime. However, it would show that he has not been able to stick to his vow of celibacy as an ordained Catholic priest, which is what I am told that he claimed and perhaps still claims to be. I consider such behaviour by ordained Catholic priests and Hindu sannyasis to be Asathya-Adharma hypocrisy of the worst kind as it stains the entire community of Catholic priests and Hindu sannyasis.
If they cannot stick to their vow of celibacy let them voluntarily and publicly quit from being a Catholic priest or Hindu sannyasi, giving up the associated dress, and become laymen in society. Once they do that they can indulge in legal consensual sex with adults without there being any hypocrisy about it.
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I (Ravi) wrote:
I think the early 21st century that we live in, has two features that perhaps were not there in most of the past history of mankind. The first which perhaps started sometime in the middle of the 20th century in certain materially advanced countries including USA and Western European countries, is the sexual revolution, which has made society somewhat sex crazy and made premarital sex (sexual activity done by person when unmarried) and even extramarital sex (sexual activity done by married person with person other than spouse) quite a common thing in society. Of course, extra marital sex can, and at times does, devastate marriages, with many resulting in divorces, and so it is very risky and anti-social behaviour. This sex craze certainly has impacted India too in a big way starting in the latter period of the 20th century and has increased now in this early 21st century. I think one really cannot escape from this reality and pretend that Indian society in general has not been impacted significantly by this.
The second is that the Internet has made revelation of information including about sexual scandals, to an international audience, very, very easy.
Given these two features, I think monastic and religious orders which have a vow of celibacy should ensure an easy exit path for those who have taken such vows of celibacy but fall under the power of sexual temptation, to exit the order and still have some means of livelihood.
Perhaps it is when people who want to have sex but have got locked into a celibate order and are unable to consider earning a living outside of that order, that they get into this pathetic spiritual hypocrisy of an outward show of celibacy but a reality of not only having sex but sometimes indulging in criminal sexual abuse.
I think society should have ***zero tolerance*** for such spiritual hypocrisy, and ensure that any person in such celibate monastic and religious orders who indulges in sex is outed and forced to give up that order, and in case of sexual abuse, is forced to face prosecution under criminal law.
And I should also say that any person who gives up that celibate order without having committed any sexual abuse, and becomes a layman again who would like to engage in a legal sexual relationship - perhaps get married and raise children, should be treated with respect by society.
In this context I would like to mention one famous case in 13th century India related to the great saint of Maharashtra, Sant Jnaneshwar (or Dnyaneshwar). His father, Vitthalapant got married, did not have children, then with consent of his wife became a renunciate, but later was instructed by his spiritual Guru who was not aware earlier that he was a married man, to go back to his wife and fulfil his family life duties. Jnaneswar's father followed his Guru's instructions and came back to his wife and led a family life. He then had four children including Jnaneswar. An extract from the wiki page-section, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dnyaneshwar#Early_life, related to this:
When Ramashrama discovered that Vitthalapant had left his family behind to become a monk, he instructed Vitthalapant to go back to his wife and perform his duties as a householder. After Vitthalapant returned to his wife and settled down in Alandi, Rakhumabai gave birth to four children—Nivruttinath (1273 CE), Dnyaneshwar (1275 CE), Sopan (1277 CE) and Muktabai (1279 CE).
Orthodox Brahmins of the day saw a renunciate returning to his life as a householder as heresy; Vitthalapant and his family were persecuted because of this. Dnyaneshwar and his brothers were denied the right to have the sacred thread ceremony, which in Hinduism symbolises the right to read the Vedas.
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The wiki page gives details of how despite such persecution the four children of Vitthalapant rose to spiritual greatness, with Jnaneshwar attaining the greatest fame.
I think in this early 21st century, religious orders should become more practical about these matters and not have harsh rules that lock somebody into a celibate life when he wants to engage in sex which then leads to these kind of bad and evil incidents of sexual abuse, and badly scars that religious order in particular, and celibate religious orders in general. I mean, nowadays the victims will come on mainstream TV media channels and relate their abuse stories which will get watched by millions of people worldwide! The blow that gets delivered to the reputation of the associated monastic and religious order is terrible. Therefore I think it makes a lot of sense for these celibate monastic and religious orders of various religions to have easy exit paths for people in them who have taken a vow of celibacy but who change their mind and want to engage in sex.
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In response to a comment (slightly edited), "The problem is Ravi when you think about it the IT revolution which introduced India to a more affluent lifestyle was a two way sword. You cannot have a hen lay eggs without it cackling...", I (Ravi) responded (slightly edited):
Well, Eve, it is not IT revolution alone though IT has played a big role in bringing astonishing levels of prosperity to middle class India (as compared to past centuries for the middle class in India). The green revolution made parts of India, notably Punjab and Haryana (north Indian states) prosperous, and made food scarcity in India a thing of the past. Industrialization in areas like automobiles (Suzuki of Japan tying up with Indian company Maruti to manufacture in India, lower cost and modern cars to Indian customers), two-wheeler manufacturing taking off bigtime, oil & natural gas exploration and refining, steel, pharma, film industry etc. all grew in a big way perhaps after the 70s/80s. The Western world in general did not notice that growth in India as it was not being seen in the West. IT was something that got India noticed in the West.
I think that Indian prosperity and India looking up to the West, particularly the USA, since the 70s/80s at least, has contributed to many Indians aping the West including its sexual mores (I have lived through that period in and around Mumbai, India; I became an adult - 18 years - in 1980). In particular the Indian film industry, e.g. Bollywood (Hindi movie industry based in Bombay/Mumbai) was deeply influenced by Hollywood, and aped some of its sexual mores related stuff in the movies they produced. And these movies were the window to the world for whole masses of Indians!
In today's Indian film industry whether it is Hindi movies or Telugu movies or Tamil movies, sex sells bigtime, and that has impacted India in a big way. This is the reality of India which simply cannot be ignored.
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Given below is my comment on Facebook post, https://www.facebook.com/terry.reiskennedy/posts/10215694809542065, dated 5th Feb. 2018 :
I (Ravi) wrote (slightly edited):
Thanks Terry Reis Kennedy for sharing this. I think you have done a vital service to the Sai fraternity by sharing this serious accusation against --Name-snipped-- (supposed Christian priest).
If --Name-snipped-- or his supporters dispute the accusation then they should provide their views on this (or related) Facebook post(s).
It is very important to share such accusations to prevent possible sexual abuse of others by such accused persons. Jai Sairam!
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