Monday, June 5, 2017

NEOCATECHUMENAL WAY HIDING SEXUAL ABUSES IN PERÚ.

Posted by LaPaz, Jungle Watch Correspondent from Spain. 

I feel very sorry because somehow this means adding more pain over victims, who already had suffered enough. I assure this is to vomit endless. 

This is a clear example of double vitimization of sexual abuses within the Neocatechumenal Way.
This case shows how the Neocatechumenal Way is a perfect place for sexual predators.



This is my translation from the original in Altavoz, a newspaper of Peru.

SEXUAL ABUSES, DRUGS AND BLACKMAIL IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, THE STORY OF CAMILO IN THE NEOCATECHUMENAL WAY.
http://altavoz.pe/2017/05/29/24424/abuso-sexual-drogas-y-chantajes-en-la-iglesia-la-historia-de-camilo-en-el-camino-neocatecumenal
Published in
May 29, 2017, 7:45 p.m.

Research Director: Ariana Lira

Write: Adriana Chávez

Research: Adriana Chávez and Andrea Gómez

When Camilo was 18 years old, he was welcomed into a religious organization called the Neocatechumenal Way. After six months of entering, he would have been raped by Father Víctor Guerrero Timaná, a priest of the religious community. This would be the beginning of a series of sexual and psychological abuse against him, which finished when he left the movement. Like many victims of clerical sexual abuse, Camilo took 15 years to reveal his testimony. Here we tell his story.

What is the Neocatechumenal Way?

The Neocatechumenal Way is an ecclesial movement and a Catholic organization at the service of catechesis and directed mainly by bishops. Its history goes back to 1960, the year in which the painter Jose "Kiko" Argüello and Carmen Hernández, chemistry by profession, founded the Way - as it is also known - in the neighborhood of Palomeras, in Madrid.

In 2002, Pope John Paul II approved his statutes. Today, the Neocatechumenal Way groups more than one million people around the world.

Precisely, this year, the Neocatechumenal Way completed four decades of having arrived in our country. They were the archbishop of Arequipa, Javier del Rio, and the current bishop of Callao, José Luis del Palacio, who embarked on the route of this "journey," as they call it on its official website.

The Neocatechumenal Way has found a space in the Diocese of Callao, where its bases operate. The institution is currently facing harsh criticism from a sector of local citizens who say that the diocesan priests in the area have been displaced to replace them with neocatechumenal priests.


Camilo's Broken Way

Camilo had a complicated childhood. Amid family problems with his father and mother, he decided to leave home at the age of 17 and got a job in a textile factory in Gamarra. However, Camilo - with no place to live - spent his nights in the streets or inside his work center.

Things, however, seemed to have changed to better when he met priest Miguel Parientes at a colloquium. Camilo told him about his situation and he agreed to help him. To this end, some relatives were to speak with the current archbishop of Arequipa, Bishop Javier del Rio, who at that time served as vicar general of Callao, to see how they could give him a helping hand.

Thus, Camilo began to attend talks of the Neocatechumenal Way. As he tells us, the most interested in Camilo being involved in these activities was the priest Víctor Guerrero. After that, his first contacts in the Way rented a room located in the avenue Haya de la Torre, in Callao, and he began to attend catechesis in the Diocesan Seminary of La Perla, Corazón de Cristo.

The time was passing and the relationship between Camilo, Monsignor Del Rio and Father Víctor Guerrero became closer. As he tells, he even accompanied Guerrero in the trips made to the interior of the country. This is proved by the following photo, in which Camilo is observed next to Guerrero in a trip to Piura:


"Víctor Guerrero was the vice-rector and my relationship with him, at first, was like father to son; That is, I saw him as a father and he called me 'son,' he recalls.

But Camilo relates that, at one point, the relationship with Father Guerrero changed: the priest would have begun to show a special affection towards him and to touch him "in a different way". He reportes the touches were progressive. They would have started with prolonged hugs and then kisses on the neck and face and finally genital touches above the clothes. "He said to me: 'But if you like it. If not, where are you going to go now? You have no family, you're going to stay on the street". Today he believes that his fear of staying alone made him to endure harassment.

Damn Christmas

December 2001. Víctor Guerrero offered Camilo the chance to spend Christmas at the home of Guillermo "Papo" Barriga, a member of the Neocatecumenal community, located in San Bartolo. In addition, Javier del Rio told him that it was a good idea not to spend the date alone. Since he had no one else to spend the holidays with, he agreed. Once the celebration dinner was over, Camilo was sent to spend the night in the same room where Father Guerrero would sleep. When everyone had fallen asleep, the priest would have gone to the bed where Camilo slept, where, he tells us, he started with the sexual touches.

"I wanted to kiss in the mouth and I refused. He said, 'Come on, hold me,' and I did not know what to do. He started to hug me, to touch my bottom, everything, I do not know why he did it. I said, 'Why are you doing these things to me?' I got sick, I started to cry", he recalls.

After Camilo rejected him and begged him constantly to stop, the priest left him in peace and Camilo fell asleep. However, he would have woken up when he felt an intense pain: Faher Guerrero penetrated him.

"The next day, I was very scared. When we returned to Lima, I was silent. He too", says Camilo through tears and with trembling hands. Obviously something is not right in him.

Camilo says that when he returned to the Seminary, Victor approached him to ask for his forgiveness. He also asked him not to tell anyone what had happened. But what began on that night of December 25 was only the beginning: after that encounter, the threats and blackmail of Father Guerrero would begin in order to continue sexually abusing him.

Shortly thereafter, Javier del Rio offered Camilo the opportunity to work and live in the same seminary, as well as a daily lunch and a salary of S /.200 for the tasks -cleaning and commissions, among others- that he would have to fulfill there. In this place, Camilo shared the common spaces with Javier del Rio - who was also the rector - Abel Larrea, Manuel Celestino, Willy Cruz and Victor Guerrero.

"I will not deny it, I felt like a breath'. At last I will have a house, here things will be different, it will not be the same as before'. I had spent my life in several places, like running from suffering. I said, 'I'm finally going to be better here'. I was looking for some comfort, a light. Javier del Rio told me 'come to the Seminar to be with more people'.

But once installed in the Seminary, the abuses of Guerrero would have continued and would have become more frequent. Camilo believed that obeying them, they would want him. He had found a place where he felt useful. He had nowhere to eat and sleep and he did not want to lose it. "I relented to make a living and he took advantage of that. I was overcome by fear, he had me tied up. Sometimes he went to the parish, look for me and then kiss me", his voice chokes.

After several episodes, Camilo armed himself with courage and told Monsignor Javier del Rio about the alleged abuses of Guerrero. He told him that he would speak with the bishop of Callao, José Luis del Palacio, and asked him to tell what happened to his catechists, including Carlos Espinoza, founder of the evangelical chain of pharmacies Boticas & Salud - Guillermo la Rosa and César Cueto Both ex-footballers and neocatechumens. According to Camilo, these would have responded that "if (someone had) touched you it was because God had allowed it for (your) salvation."

However, in a dialogue with this newspaper, César Cueto stated that because of the amount of time spent since 2003, he did not remember having met Camilo or being his catechist. Likewise, the ex-footballer noted that he does not remember reports of sexual abuse by Guerrero Timaná either.

"I remember nothing. Conquer it with Mr. Víctor Guerrero", César Cueto said. "Within their freedom as persons, they can commit things that are not allowed and that God does not allow, which are the work of the evil one, the Devil," he added.

In addition, Cueto affirmed that the father Guerrero "will have to face a court if he has committed that crime", although he emphasized not knowing if the denunciation is certain. Finally, he clarified that participation in the Neocatechumenal Way is totally free and that one can enter or leave when he likes, so that someone's action would be a personal responsibility, not the Neocatechumenal Way's one.

Altavoz press contacted Guillermo La Rosa, who indicated that he did not know Camilo. The ex-footballer asked us to call him again, but we got no response. On the other hand, we tried to communicate with Carlos Espinoza, but we were not successful, while Boticas & Salud indicated that they could not provide us with their contact.

Another measure that would have taken Del Río was to move him to the Mother Mary of Peace Parish, located in Groove.

"I could not be in the parish of Mary Help of Christians because Victor Guerrero was there. That is why I am transferred to the parish Mary Mother of Peace and there I told my brothers and sisters of the neocatechumenal community. It was a mistake, yes, because they took it as if I were the problem. And I told them because I could not keep it to myself, and they just saw it as 'Ay Camilo, you are always with the same theme', he says.

Bishop del Rio also decided that it would be best if Camilo stopped living in the seminary and rented a room, but only for two months. After this time, he was again homeless. It was then that Father Victor Guerrero sought him and offered to rent a room in exchange for his silence on what happened. "If you're not with me, you will not live in the room," he would say.



Remember this name: Víctor Guerrero Timaná

Víctor Guerrero is a diocesan priest, incardinated in the Diocese of Callao, who belongs to the archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Peru. He shared priestly formation in the Redemptoris Mater Seminary with Javier del Río, now Archbishop of Arequipa.

In 1997, when the then bishop of Callao appointed Del Río as rector of the "Heart of Christ" Seminary, Father Guerrero served as treasurer of the same and, in 1999, he was appointed vice-rector until 2004. He later moved to The Parish of Mary Help of Christians, in Callao.

Guerrero appeared before Camilo as a sort of "spiritual guide." He offered him his friendship and the possibility of guiding him on the Neocatechumenal Way, which includes a series of steps that, according to the movement, must be followed to reach God. But, after the first alleged abuse, their relationship changed: According to Camilo, Guerrero blackmailed him by taking away the place where he lived if he resisted.

Source: Facebook

Your eyes will look at strange things, and your heart will speak perversities"

(Proverbs 23:33)

Camilo's anxiety led him to use cocaine until he reached high levels of addiction. Guerrero would have propitiated and financed the consumption of this drug. According to his testimony, he gave S / .5 to S / .10 to buy a daily dose as long as he did not tell anyone about the abuses.

Camilo also recalls that Father Guerrero took him to gay discotheques and a sauna called "Olimpus" - also frequented by homosexuals - located in Callao. A journalist from this newspaper went to the latter and, upon consulting Father Victor Guerrero, a masseur said that "the priest" attended the place on Mondays, Tuesdays or Wednesdays, every week.

The cocaine addiction led Camilo to enter, in 2006, the Virgen de Fátima rehabilitation center, located in the district of Zapallal. According to reports, the treatment would have been paid by the María Madre de la Paz community.

Camilo left the Neocatechumenal Way in 2009, after reaching the Second Scrutiny of the movement, in which he was urged to sell his goods and donate the money to the church. As he tells us, all his assets consisted of a mattress and clothes, which managed to sell for S / .60. The neocatechumenals did not find it sufficient and called him an idolater. "They told me that I did not want to be devested of my goods. That's where I decided to go. "

The dark side of Javier Del Río, current Archbishop of Arequipa

According to Camilo, when he decided to tell what was happening with Father Victor Guerrero Timaná to the current archbishop of Arequipa, Archbishop Javier del Rio, he told him that Father Guerrero "was a human being and that he could be wrong."

"I do not understand why Javier [Del Rio] never did anything. Suddenly it sounds absurd, but I admire Javier. However, all this admiration is clouded because, how can I admire someone who never said anything about what I told him? That kills everything. I'm very scared, very angry! I feel different to many people, I do feel different. They destroyed my life. Yes, they have destroyed me. I get nervous, I cry every now and then. I tremble, I have had suicide attempts, I feel different from others", he says today.

This newspaper contacted Bishop Javier del Río, who denied having ever received a complaint of sexual abuse. However, he recognized that, at the time when he was appointed rector of the seminary, Father Guerrero was the treasurer of the seminary. On the other hand, he also admitted that Camilo was attending Mary Help of Christians and "that he was guided rather by Father Guerrero", in reference to the fact that the parish was in his charge during those years.


Today: José Luis del Palacio

This newspaper communicated with the current Bishop of Callao, José Luis del Palacio, who answered a relation of questions sent by email. In them, he claimed to know Monsignor Del Rio and Father Victor Guerrero Timaná (the latter since about 1987).

On the other hand, the current manager of the bishopric of Callao tells us that in 2001 - the year that Camilo had told him what had happened with Guerrero Timaná - he was a missionary in Lima and other departments of Peru. He denied knowing it and made sure that he did not know that there was a report of sexual abuse against Guerrero.

This newspaper came three times to the Bishopric of Callao in search of Victor Guerrero Timaná, but the staff refused to give us information about his whereabouts. We also communicate on two occasions via telephone with him. In both, he refused to respond on the charges against him. On the other hand, to the date, the Bishopric of Callao affirms that - as a result of our communication - it has initiated the investigation process "that the ecclesiastical rules dispose" against Víctor Guerrero. This was stated by the Vice Chancellor Carlos E. Echeverría.


12 comments:

  1. The NCW is operating in the shadows. It appears that it is not just the sexual abuse that they are hiding, There is no financial disclosure with this group, no records of how money is transacted through the organization, their very statutes are secret, not published for the general public to see and read. Kiko's whereabouts I understand are very secret to those outside the organization.

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  2. These are the fruits of the NCW, when they get into a position of power in any diocese, the diocesan priests in the area (especially the good and holy ones) are soon replaced with neocatechumenal "priests". While at the parish level the true Catholics are pushed aside and replaced with NCW cult members.

    I hope Rome is taking notice of this. We now have two examples of this in Guam and Callao. I am sure that more of this cancer will surface as the NCW worms itself into the church. We must not keep silent, the Church needs to know the truth.

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  3. Any bishop who invites the Neo missio ad gentes into his diocese will find he had got not just a cuckoo in the nest but a tiger by the tail! Many stories of presbyters refusing to obey the bishop, refusing to preside at normal masses etc etc. Where is the Holy Spirit? Where is love? Love is never rude, never seeks its own interests but delights in the truth.

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    1. Squatting in Bishop's house.

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  4. My family was affected by sexual abuse by a NC Priest who told the victim 'this is a secret just like confession' . The victim did not share with anyone what happened until a decade later. Why? Because the Priest was a 'friend' to the fammily! The NC Priest had been shifted to another state in Australia where another claim of abuse was made-it was thrown out of court. This vile man was then sent to his overseas home to the comfort of family. The NC way is a peadophile protecting cult , your children are completely vulnerable, unsuspecting parents you are placing your kids at risk. We foolishly left our childen with 'babysitters' , sent them away with their own comminities when too young, too impressionable and naive. Lambs to the slaughter.

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  5. Ask Francis McDowell what the kids were doing at the national convivance in Fawley Court while he was playing "Streets of London" He doesn't know because they were unsupervised! YAWN INDEED!

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  6. He wont know because the kids were unsupervised!

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  7. Why don't "safeguarding" people safeguard parishioners and ordinary clergy and bishops?

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  8. Sounds interesting! Which Francis McDowell do you mean?

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  9. YAWN implies that this Australian catechist is too tired to make sure his responsibilities are fulfilled and that he makes sure his little flock are safeguarded!

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  10. Maybe not tired but just bored, irresponsible and couldn't care less about child protection!

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