Catholic Order Admits Officials Knew Priest Belonged To Board of Alleged Pro-Pedophilia Group and Was Previously Arrested For Exposing Himself in Public

The Dutch Catholic Church and the Salesian order are under fire this week after it was disclosed that a priest not only served on the board of a pro-pedophilia organization but defended adult-child sex. To make matters worse, high ranking officials were apparently aware of the 73-year-old priest’s activities. The priest is known only as “Father Van B.” Moreover, Superior Jos Claes says that he does not believe that such activities would present a serious problem for the priest.

“Martijn” is a group that campaigns to end the Dutch ban on adult-child sex. Delegate Herman Spronck is also being investigated over his knowledge of the priest’s activity and his own reported statements that child-adult relations are not necessarily harmful. Spronck has been quoted as saying he was aware of Van B.’s pedophilia and at least two instances where the priest had been fined by police for exposing himself in public. Yet, he did not reportedly viewed that as a reason to ban the priest from the order.

What makes this story even more disturbing is that the order was founded to care for children during the Industrial Revolution. The Salesians of Don Bosco was founded in the late nineteenth century by Saint John Bosco to care for the young and poor children. It states its mission as “the Christian perfection of its associates obtained by the exercise of spiritual and corporal works of charity towards the young, especially the poor, and the education of boys to the priesthood.”

This is clearly the type of case that begs for a lawsuit by any victims.

Source: Dutch News, as first seen on Reddit.