translated from Spanish: Ss. CC will commission investigations to outside lawyers for complaints against Gerardo Joannon and two other sex abuse cures

The Congregation of the Sacred Hearts in Chile announced the opening of a previous canonical investigation after a sexual abuse complaint was reported on Monday by priest Gerardo Joannon and ot two clerics.
A former student at the Sacred Hearts College of Providence, Carolina Marín, 48 today, charged Joannon, Juan Andrés Peretiatkowicz and Jorge Prieto, who died in 2010, for sexual abuse that occurred more than 38 years ago when he was a minor, and that in some cases followed until he was 20.
Carolina Marín will bring Joannon to justice for sexual offences, with the support of lawyer Juan Pablo Hermosilla, of the Foundation for Trust, who also represented the victims of Fernando Karadima and Marcela Aranda, the PUC theologian who uncovered the history of abuse of the ex-chaplain of the Home of Christ, Renato Poblete.
For the spokesperson for the Network of Survivors of Ecclesiastical Abuse, Helmut Kramer, “again we have the case of known priests, counted nationally accused of abuses, who have walked quietly through the history of our country and with the most absolute impunity and Joannon is a person who has already been publicly questioned over issues of trafficking of children who were declared dead and handed over to other families and now more on top is a sexual abuser,” he told Radio Cooperative.
More complaints
Through a statement, the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts in Chile reported that, once the denunciation of women was known through the press, a previous canonical investigation was immediately decreed in order to move forward to clarify “in what is our responsibility to these painful facts.”
“We are contacting outside lawyers who can take over such an investigation; while, those who wish to hand over their complaints or provide data can contact the delegate to receive complaints to the delegadoprovincial@sscc.cl mail,” the text said.
In addition to this case, the order reported the receipt of allegations of sexual abuse against two clerics already deceased, consisting of “clearly connotating of abuse” touches, and which are being investigated by the lawyer appointed Felix Avilés.
One of the complaints also points against Prieto, regarding events that “would have happened in the early 1960s in Santiago, and that the complaint was made to the Pastoral Office of Denunciations of the Archbishopric of Santiago (OPADE), which was forwarded to the Congregation”.
The other, meanwhile, consists of two complaints against Enrique Moreno Laval, who died in February 2018, for abuses that “would have occurred in the late 70s and early 1980s in the city of Talcahuano”.
Commission at national level
The statement states that, given the situation that as a Church they are facing by the countless allegations of sexual abuse by priests and people linked to the Catholic Church, “it is urgent to form a commission at the national level to receive testimonies and investigate autonomously and transparently, according to the times of each victim, and to be referred to justice.”
Meanwhile, provincial René Cabezón point out CNN Chile that these facts “take us down and leave us very baffled and sad. The Church, many people no longer trust him, people do not believe him and we believe that we must reach an instance, a national commission, that allows to receive testimonies,” he added.
According to data from the Public Prosecutor’s Office, there are 166 open cases for abuses in the Chilean clergy, while the victims number 248, of which 131 were minors when they were subjected to the crimes.
Meanwhile, Church-related persons who are investigated number more than 200, including 10 bishops, 152 priests, 9 deacons, 15 lay people, eight people who are not available and 27 belonging to orders or congregations without being clerics.
College Communiqué
The Sacred Hearts school of Providence also spoke about it and published a statement on its page stating that “Gerardo Joannon stopped collaborating with the school in the early 1980s” and “we stand in solidarity with the pain of those who have abuse or abuse.”
They also emphasize that “we want to give peace of mind to the school community who trust our educational project based on respect and trust for children, adolescents and families who are currently part of the School of the Holy Hearts-Providence”.