The Dutch Public Prosecutor's Office in Arnhem is
investigating whether there is enough evidence to prosecute Bishop
Cornelius Schilder for the sexual abuse of an underage boy in Kenya 18
years ago, a spokesperson has confirmed to Radio Netherlands Worldwide.
Bishop Schilder, now living near the Dutch village of Oosterbeek, has
been interrogated by the police, according to an insider. On Monday his
lawyer told RNW that Schilder denies all allegations against him.
The Dutch Public Prosecutor launched an investigation after a report
surfaced earlier this year through the Deetman Commission, which is
researching abuse in the Dutch Catholic Church.
Complicated
The Commission refused to comment directly on the matter, but confirmed
that it submits serious complaints to the Public Prosecutor's Office.
The police officially logged the accusation following a request to
investigate from the Public Prosecutor.
Spokesperson Ellen Prummel confirmed that the Arnhem Public Prosecutor's vice squad is considering whether or not the case "truly indicates a criminal offence, and if there are enough leads to warrant further investigation".
Prummel could not confirm how long this will take. The fact that the
victim is living in Kenya and has not notified the police in the
Netherlands makes it a "complicated case." It is also unclear whether
the abuse happened too long ago to be prosecuted under Dutch law.
'Passed on'
The accuser, 32-year-old Michael ole Uka, claims he was abused for years
by various foreign priests in Kenya. He came forward in 2005 and
informed the church authorities of his allegations when he suffered such
severe injuries from abuse that he required urgent medical treatment.
The treatment was paid for by the Mill Hill Missionaries, the
congregation to which the accused priests and Dutch bishop belong. Uka
also received financial compensation and further aid.
The congregation
expatriated an Irish priest involved in the abuse. Mill Hill has
relieved the priest of his duties but is still waiting for a Vatican
decision to laicise him.
Uka says the abuse started when he was seven years old.
Several
members of the clergy allegedly 'passed him on' to each other.
The
abusers paid Uka's school fees, which made him feel obliged to permit
the abuse, although he says: "I knew it was wrong what they were doing."
In addition to Schilder, Uka says he was also abused by another Dutch priest who has since passed away.
"He gave me a coffee, showed me my room and started touching me immediately" says Uka, describing his first encounter with Cornelius Schilder.
Touch him
Uka told of his apparent ordeal in a documentary shown on Irish television last month
and says the bishop began abusing him in 1993 when he was 14 years old.
At the time, Schilder was a priest in the Kenyan diocese of Ngong.
In
2003, he was promoted to bishop in Ngong.
"He asked me whether this other priest had touched me as well,
and I said yes. Then he told me to touch him too and do the same things I
had done to the other priest. At the time I thought all priests did
these kinds of things."
The documentary on the Irish RTE network also quoted the father
superior of the Mill Hill Missionaries, Anthony Chantry.
According to
Chantry, the case has not been reported to the Kenyan police because
homosexuality is still a crime in Kenya.
Serious conversation
Mill Hill earlier told Radio Netherlands Worldwide that a congregation
official in Kenya had discussed the accusations with both the bishop and
the victim.
It was then decided to ask the Archbishop of the Roman
Catholic Church in Kenya and the Papal Nuncio, the Ambassador to the
Vatican in Nairobi, to conduct an ecclesiastical investigation.
Both
declined to take action.
After repeated failed requests by the Mill Hill Missionaries, the
Vatican finally intervened three years later, according to an insider.
In August 2009 the Dutch bishop was summoned to Rome for a "very serious
conversation".
He did not return to Kenya but went into immediate
retirement in a Mill Hill home in the Dutch town of Oosterbeek.
False and inappropriate
Rome's official line is that Bishop Schilder has health problems.
Since
2009 he has no longer been allowed to carry out the duties of a bishop
and as a priest he has been placed under supervision of Mill Hill.
This
makes him the first Dutch bishop to be punished by the Vatican for
sexual abuse of a minor.
As Michael ole Uka sees it, justice has not been done. His life has
been ruined, "while the bishop enjoys his pension in Europe".
Bishop
Schilder denies the accusation and has until now been unwilling to speak
to the media.
On Monday, however, he told RNW via his lawyer that "Michael ole Uka's accusation of sexual abuse is false."
Bishop Schilder also added that he "considers it inappropriate to issue a statement as long as an investigation is ongoing."
He says he regrets that the media have publicised the matter before investigations are completed.