The Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference has banned the latest issue of Catholic Church News because of two articles the bishops regard as offensive. One of the articles makes the allegations of sexual abuse.
Father Oskar Wermter, the conference’s social communications secretary, yesterday confirmed that circulation of the magazine had been stopped in the Catholic Church’s dioceses.
He said the bishops were angered by the front-page prominence given to the article on the recent wedding of the renegade former Archbishop of Lusaka, Emmanuel Milingo, and Marie Sung, a Korean, in the Unification Church led by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, whose followers are commonly referred to as Moonies.
But the bishops appeared to be more incensed by the article alleging the rampant sexual abuse of nuns by priests.
Petronilla Samuriwo, editor of Catholic Church News, said yesterday that she was disappointed by this temporary ban over the articles.
“It is certainly true that the July/August 2001 issue has been stopped from circulation,” she said. “The cover photo of former Zambian Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo and his Korean wife, plus the 'disturbing report of priests sexually abusing nuns’ were not received well by some bishops and priests.
“July is traditionally vocations week, when the church campaigns among young people to join the religious life. Therefore, the news articles were seen as working against this campaign, although one can argue that scandals are also an opportunity to re-evaluate Christianity. Good and meaningful homilies can be made out of embarrassing scandals.”
Samuriwo said she was dismayed that by banning the issue, the bishops had also curtailed circulation of their own pastoral letter, which needed to reach many people.
“This show of intolerance is disturbing,” she said.
“I am utterly dismayed and unsure how to interpret this event in terms of editorial policy. Who decides what Catholics read, and when?”
Father Wermter said: “The bishops objected to the articles on pastoral grounds. They felt that the ordinary Catholic would be disturbed and upset by such articles, and that the stories should not have been given publicity.
“So a decision was made that the magazine should not be sold in the parishes. But those with subscriptions will receive it.”
Ironically, the magazine carries a pastoral letter titled Tolerance and Hope, a call for peace with a scathing attack on the government and war veterans, issued by the nine Catholic bishops last month.
The article on the abuse of nuns, which appears to be the main cause for the ban, is based on a statement by the Vatican, which acknowledged the substance of reports by two senior nuns between 1994 and 1998.
Abuses were documented in 23 countries, mostly in Africa. Three nuns from Great Britain and Ireland and an American priest wrote the accounts.
Sister Maura O’Donohue, a medical missionary and a physician, wrote the first and most comprehensive report in 1994.
Her report was presented to the Vatican in 1995.
According to her report, several priests and members of the hierarchy were reported to have abused their power and betrayed their trust in exploitative sexual relations with nuns. She cited harassment of sisters, forced abortions and even rape.
The report said some Catholic clergy had exploited their financial and spiritual authority to gain sexual favours from religious women, a situation facilitated by the cultural subservience of women in some regions.
In Africa, where HIV and Aids are rampant, young nuns are sometimes seen as a safe target of sexual activity, both by priests and other males, it said.
In several extreme cases, the article said, priests have impregnated nuns and then encouraged them to have abortions. In one instance, a priest celebrated the funeral mass of a nun he had taken for an abortion. She had died during the procedure.