In recent weeks, dozens of victims of sexual abuse by priests and fathers have testified in the documentary series Godforsaken on VRT Canvas. Their stories have also hit Johan Bonny hard. In The appointment the bishop tells that he has already met several witnesses, but hearing their stories on television made him look at the case differently. “We have put a lot of energy into recognition and settlement, but the injury remains. This is something you will never forget. We remember, but how do you do that?”, he asks. That is why he wants to contact all victims who are willing to do so.
Bonny struggles to explain how so many sacred figures within the Church could abuse the weakest on such a large scale. In addition to being unhappy in community life, he suspects that celibacy also played a role for some. “But if those religious had been married, there was a good chance that they would have committed abuse within their family.” He emphasizes that no excuse is sufficient to justify the behavior of some abusers.
Sharp for Danneels
Out in the testimonials Godforsaken it became clear that the church apparatus repeatedly and deliberately looked away from the abuse. Children who reported abuses were sometimes ignored and more often punished. “The church should have seen it. It is a blind spot, a shameful blind spot,” says Bonny now. He is critical of his predecessors, whom he blames for not taking their responsibility. “Now it was up to the next generation to pull the chestnuts out of the fire, chestnuts that should not have been there anymore.”
Bonny was very sharp for Cardinal Godfried Danneels, who had long been seen as a sympathetic and empathetic figure, but actually wanted to cover up the sexual abuse of Bishop Roger Vangheluwe. “Danneels was not a leading figure, that was also the case in other matters. He never fought for anything,” Bonny said. Vangheluwe, now 86 years old, lives in a French abbey and is still a bishop. Following the series, the bishops’ conference asked him to be laicized and to choose to continue living as a layman. Vangheluwe wants to “think about this briefly”, Bonny indicated, “for a few days”.
It is a situation with which Bonny is very annoyed. He criticizes the Vatican’s passive attitude and says he cannot do anything without Rome taking steps. They are the ones who can remove Vangheluwe from office. “Others must take responsibility, we cannot leave it like this. (…) We have been asking Rome that for years and we have raised it again, but there has been no response.” According to Bonny, this is typical of how the highest levels in the Church still deal with abuse today. “While we need to do more to address systemic errors in the church.”
Unbaptized
Many viewers of Godforgotten refuse to wait for those changes within the institute. In recent weeks, many people announced that they no longer wanted to associate with the Church and therefore opted for baptism. However, the names of the ex-members remain in the baptismal register and the Belgian Catholic Church will therefore soon have to answer before the dispute chamber of the Data Protection Authority. Experts believe that the approach conflicts with GDPR legislation that protects personal data, but according to Bonny there is no immediate alternative. “The baptismal register is written recto verso and by hand. You can cut out someone’s name, but there is also someone on the other side.” Bonny is therefore waiting for the decision of the dispute chamber of the data protection authority before considering a solution.
In recent weeks, the image of the Catholic Church has suffered another major blow, partly because Bonny played the victim role in an interview with Radio 1. “Whether it comes from Rome, the media or public opinion: we are not thanked for it. That obviously hurts. We do not do this task in the church to make a big impression or to make a profit from it,” he said at the time. In De Afspraak he took back those statements and said that he had spoken carelessly.
Despite everything, Bonny wants to remain part of the Catholic Church in the future. He sees it as his responsibility to change the institution from within. “Sometimes all you can do is pull your own weight and see what happens.”
