By Verghese V Joseph –
“The Church is called to be a place of piety and compassion, especially for those who have suffered. For all of us, the Catholic Church continues to be a field hospital that accompanies us on our spiritual journey. It is the place where we can sit with others, listen to them and share with them our struggles and our faith in the good news of Jesus Christ. I fully trust that the Commission will continue to be a place where you can listen with interest to the voices of victims and survivors. Because we have a lot to learn from them and their personal stories of courage and perseverance. ”
Pope Francis, 21 September 2017
In a rare honour for India, Pope Francis last week confirmed the appointment of an Indian nun — Sr. Arina Gonsalves of Religious of Jesus and Mary (JM) — as one of the 16 high-level members of the advisory body of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors (PCPM).
The Holy Father chose these eight women and eight men from a multi-disciplinary field of international experts in safeguarding children and vulnerable adults from the crime of sexual abuse. Representatives from several new countries, including India, will now offer their insights and experience to the Commission, reflecting the global reach of the Church and the challenge of creating safeguarding structures in diverse cultural contexts.
The opening session of the April PCPM plenary meeting will begin with a private meeting with several people who have experienced abuse. The members will then discuss various proposals to foster on-going dialogue with victims/survivors from around the world.
Sr. Arina is Vice Provincial of the Religious of Jesus and Mary, Sr. Arina presides at the Convent of Jesus and Mary, Fort, Mumbai. The school is aimed at girls from elementary to secondary. She has a bachelor’s degree in sociology, education and civil law and a degree in history. She is also a publicly registered consultant. She worked as a consultant for his diocese in cases of sexual abuse of minors, serving and presiding groups of experts in this field.
Sr. Arina chairs the Prem Dan Primary School for street children; He presides at the special school of the Convent of Jesus and Mary for disabled children and is the Dean of the NGO Uddhaar, which promotes rural education projects in India. She is a member of the Association of the Western Regional Education Commission (India) since 2011 and of the Association of Catholic Lawyers in the south of Bombay.
Born in Remedy, Vasai, Diocese of Bombay in 1960, she then later joined Congregation of Jesus and Mary in 1983 in Pune and took her first vows at Pune in 1986. In addition, she is also in-charge of the Province Apostolate.
Indian Catholic Matters caught up with Sr. Arina Gonsalves to gather her views on her new mission assigned to her by the Holy Father.
Hearty congratulations and best wishes in your new mission! Can you please let us know a bit about your background, your vocation, and congregation and how it prepared you for this responsibility?
I am privileged that Holy Father has appointed me to be the member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. Thank you for your good wishes and prayers. I have been working with the children in the school from 1986 as a teacher, Asst. Headmistress and later Headmistress for last 21 years. I am also chairperson on the Special school of Convent of Jesus and Mary for Differently Abled children in Byculla and Prem Dan Garden School for the street children at Fort. I completed my Law degree from Mumbai University in the year 2011. I firmly believe all these life experiences have prepared me to take this responsibility.
How big is the problem of Protection of Minors in India, given that our Indian culture is not open about such abuse unlike the West?
There are problems in every society and also in our own country. Our government has taken steps to protect minors by enacting laws to promote and protect the rights of children. Child abuse is the violation of Human Rights. In India, we have the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act of 2000, Right to Education Act 2009 and the POSCO Act of 2012.
The ‘Study on Child Abuse in India in 2007’, conducted by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India, acknowledged that the scale of child abuse taking place in schools is high.
What should one do when a reported case of abuse comes to an Indian catholic? How does the role of the Church in India intersect with that of the Police and Judiciary in India?
As I have mentioned above the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences, Act of 2012 referred to as ‘the POSCO Act’, is a special law that has been enacted to comprehensively deal with the issue of sexual abuse offences against children. It describes different types of sexual offences against children. The POSCO Act has introduced the concept of Mandatory Reporting, namely, punishing a person who fails to report to the police the occurrence of an offence under the POSCO Act despite having knowledge of its commission.
Based on this Act, the church authorities have framed the Child Protection Policy in their diocese, and constituted Child Abuse Monitoring Committees in their institutions for the promotion of Child Protection and for the prevention of child abuse, and to inquire into instances of child abuse in their institutions. So, anyone can report to this Committee if there are child abuse cases.
The Commission’s central approach is ‘victim/survivor first” strategy. Will there be a change in the strategy that PCPM adopt vis-à-vis India?
The commission’s central approach ‘victim/survivor’ will remain. The strategy will not change for the time being.
Any counseling steps/rehabilitation measures to help Minors who have been abused?
Counseling will be given to the affected minors but it depends on the trained counselor to adopt appropriate steps to deal with each individual case.
How would you look at creating a culture of safe guarding minors in India?
To create a culture of safe guard for the protection of minors, we have to take few basic steps:
- Children have to be taught and sensitized towards good and bad touch from an early age. Equip them with the knowledge of how to handle such situation.
- The trust factor has to be reviewed. Children by nature are curious and trust easily. Along with the caretakers and adults of the house, children should know who is trustworthy. Sometimes there is a danger from family members, neighbours, help at home or a known person. Children must be made aware of this.
- An adult should be taught how to handle children through workshops.
The specific task of the Commission is to propose to the Holy Father best practice initiatives for protecting minors, any particular focus areas you have in mind?
Since I have experience with children in schools, my first area of focus would be implementing informative and educative programmes for parents and children in our schools. We have scheduled our first Plenary Meeting in April 2018, from this meeting I propose to generate more practical, specific and concrete measures for the protection of children.
The views expressed are of Sr. Arina Gonsalves in her personal capacity and not necessarily of the Commission.