Man alleges misuse of ‘confession’ by priests to sexually exploit his wife

The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, which has been enjoying a comfortable public positioning in recent times, especially after the recent Supreme Court verdict in the more-than-a-century-old legal battle with the Syrian Jacobite Church, now finds itself in the vortex of a storm following a sex scandal in which five of its priests have been named and ‘confession’, one of the seven sacraments of the Church, brought under a cloud.

The issue had come up before the Church authorities in mid-May when one of the members of the Niranam diocese, in central Travancore, complained to the diocesan head that at least five priests of the Church were sexually exploiting his wife, a mother of two kids, by blackmailing her making use of the secret confession she had made to them on separate occasions.

He came to know about it when he checked his wife’s mails for a different purpose and found copies of hotel bills mailed to her. On being questioned, his wife told him that she was blackmailed and forced to offer sexual favours by a priest before who she had confessed to a premarital relationship with a priest of the Church, who was also her relative and neighbour.

According to the husband, she had named five priests in all, four of them connected with same diocese and another from the neighbouring diocese of Thumpamon. He also alleged that his wife had confessed to her relationship with two others, both outside the religion.

The husband also produced a ‘statement’ by the wife which he had elicited from her. The issue remained at the diocesan level and the diocesan authorities had put the five priests under suspension and denied them the right to discharge their ecclesiastical duties.

However, with the issue getting widely discussed in the social and visual media, and the National Women’s Commission taking up the matter, the Church authorities were forced come up with a response on Wednesday. Church Priest Trusty M.O. John told The Hindu that the Church had appointed a Commission consisting of priests and legal personalities to look into the issue.

If true, the misuse of confessional information, whether for sexual or other favours, was a grave issue . The Church would like the whole truth to come out, he said.

On Thursday, the woman’s husband appeared before the panel at the Niranam diocesan headquarters and gave evidence before the panel. One of his key demands is that ‘confession’ as a sacrament should be put an end to as it was being misused by priests.