Nagasaki Catholic Priest Accused of Sexual Harassment

Nagasaki, Nov. 22 (Jiji Press)--A female Catholic in Nagasaki Prefecture has lodged a complaint that she was sexually harassed by a priest in the southwestern Japan prefecture, Jiji Press learned Friday. The Archdiocese of Nagasaki has suspended the priest but failed to disclose the scandal to other followers, informed sources said. The archdiocese, the second-largest diocese in Japan in terms of the number of followers, cited medical treatment as the reason behind the absence of the priest. A source expressed concern, saying, "If we don't bring problematic behavior to light, we can't prevent recurrence." Sexual abuse by clerics is a problem seen around the world. Systematic cover-ups of such crimes by church authorities have been criticized. Pope Francis, set to visit Japan from Saturday, issued in May an order obligating the clergy to report any sexual abuse by clerics to the Vatican. In May 2018, the priest in his 40s allegedly told the woman to come to a church where he serves in Nagasaki and committed indecent acts, including hugging her and touching her body, according to informed sources. The woman was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and underwent long-term hospitalization. The Nagasaki prefectural police, with which the women filed the complaint, is investigating the case, suspecting forcible indecency. The priest apologized to senior archdiocese officials, saying, "I caused great trouble to the woman and to the church." To Jiji Press, the priest said, "I can't say anything." Among the 16 dioceses across the country, the Archdiocese of Nagasaki has the second-largest number of followers at some 60,000, after the Archdiocese of Tokyo. It has the biggest number of churches at 133. Sexual abuse by Catholic Church priests was exposed in many parts of the world following a U.S. newspaper report in 2002. Surveys mainly by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan in 2002 and 2012 showed that clerics and monks committed sexual abuse on children in the country. The organization, however, does not have much information on cases in which grown-up followers were victimized. Some criticize the church authorities' way of conducting surveys on their own, saying they lack a sense of crisis. END