September 13, 2010

A Belgian Catholic Church-backed commission has found that almost every institution, every school, particularly boarding schools, at one time harboured cases of sex abuse.

The commission reported testimony from 475 cases of alleged sex abuse involving more than 100 victims, 13 of whom were driven to suicide.

The testimony from victims of clergy and church workers reveals 13 suicides and six attempted suicides "in relation to sexual abuse by a cleric," said the report published by the Commission on Church-related Sexual Abuse Complaints, set up by the Church, said an AFP report on ABC.

The commission, headed by independent child psychiatrist Peter Adriaenssens, said it had looked into 475 complaints between January and June this year.

"Almost every institution, every school, particularly boarding schools, at one time harboured abuse," Mr Adriaenssens said.

"It's the Church's Dutroux," he said, referring to the mid-1990s trauma caused in Belgium by the arrest of serial rapist and killer Marc Dutroux – serving life for six rapes and four murders.

The scale of the abuse has stunned the church.

"We realise that we were totally misinformed and that we weren't aware of the gravity of the situation and that these victims were hurt for life," the Bishop of Tournai, Guy Harpigny, said.

"Some committed suicide. This is extremely serious. Mindsets are changing and I think the church authorities are also ready to act towards change," added the bishop, who has been tasked with looking at paedophilia in the church.

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