Nigeria: The priest as a predator

by allWestAfrica on June 4, 2010

Just as some Nigerians were breathing easy that the avalanche of sexual abuse that has rocked the Catholic world in the west will bypass us, the case of Richard Burke surfaced this week. An Irish Bishop, Burke served as an Archbishop in the Diocese of Benin City in Edo State and during his stint as a priest in Warri, had a sexual relationship with a Dolores Atwood.

So far the priest has not denied the act, except to say that the girl was twenty-one when they, “had a caring relationship that began in the latter part of 1989, when she was 21 and I was 40. I was posted back to Ireland in March 1990, and returned to Nigeria in April 199.” Atwood says she was 14 when the priest had sex with her, which would make it a case of sexual abuse. In his letter of resignation Richard Burke apologized for failing to honour his vow of celibacy.

That this singular case of sexual abuse by a Catholic priest has surfaced in Nigeria shouldn’t be surprising at all, what is somewhat puzzling is that many more have not. Research shows that membership of the Catholic Church in Africa skyrocketed from 1.9 million in 1900 to 130 million in 2000 and Nigeria boasts of about 25million out of that, yet only one case of sexual abuse has come to light. Considering the fact that we live in a country where talk about sexual abuse is almost non-existent we may never get to the bottom of the issue. Even as we speak, many are more likely to berate Ms. Atwood instead of questioning the priest’s wrong doing.

Revelations in the United States and Europe have also shown that many of the sexually abused are young boys. In a society like ours, will any Nigerian boy or man be able to come out and say, “I was sexually abused by my priest”? Or if there are abused boys, would they understand what happened to them as abuse? Many would rather die with the hurt and pain or simply dismiss the encounter, while the priest walks free to prey on; such is the respect we sometimes have for men of the cloth.
It is instructive that the St Patrick’s Missionary society ‘ found no evidence to corroborate the allegation of child sexual abuse.” But the Vatican is investigating further.

We live in a society where many laws are often disregarded and often rarely enforced, a double tragedy because any errant priests would know this and their abused victims would too. What will come of it if he or she were to confess, apart from the priest resigning? Will our government seek redress for its citizens? Do we have a solid judiciary system that will address the issues?

It will be interesting to see how the Pope and the Vatican respond to Ms. Atwood’s case in Nigeria. We have seen how the other nations like America and Britain have shaken an apology out of the hesitant Holy Papal.

We never ask for apologies and very soon we start to hear “let’s forgive and forget, nobody is perfect, everything is in God’s hands”; then follows the usual – let us pray about it. But while we are praying about priests sexually abusing our young ones, we should also start talking about it and loudly too.

Nigerian Archbishop resigns over oath of celibacy

Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of the Tipperary-born Archbishop of Benin City in Nigeria, Richard Burke.

The decision was confirmed in a message posted on the Vatican’s website.

In a statement the St Patrick’s Missionary Society, which Richard Burke was a member of, said former Archbishop Burke informed the society that the reason for his resignation was his failure to observe his oath of celibacy.

The statement added that Richard Burke had ‘apologised to all those whom he had hurt by his actions’ and had taken ‘full personal responsibility for what he has done wrong’.

The resignation follows a complaint made last year by Dolores Atwood, alleging that she had been sexually abused by Richard Burke when she was 14 years old and he was a priest ministering in Warri Diocese, Nigeria.

According to the St Patrick’s Missionary Society, Ms Atwood alleged that she had an ongoing relationship with Richard Burke afterwards.

The society then launched a full investigation and provided counselling to Ms Atwood.

According to the society, Archbishop Burke denied the allegation of child sexual abuse but admitted that he had had a sexual relationship with Ms Atwood.

He voluntarily withdrew from ministry while the investigation was carried out.

The Society says that the investigation found no evidence to corroborate the allegation of child sexual abuse made by Ms Atwood.

In a statement from Archbishop Burke, published by the Irish Catholic newspaper, he said he was deeply ashamed of his behaviour, which had caused great pain, hurt and bewilderment to those around him.

He added that he takes full responsibility for his actions and wishes to express his deepest sorrow for his inappropriate, irresponsible and repeatedly sinful conduct.

He also apologises directly to Dolores Atwood for the pain he has caused her and her family.