A Catholic Christian priest in Kerala shared porn videos to a ‘spiritual’ WhatsApp group comprising women and nuns. A few housewives who watched those videos reportedly complained to the Bishop.
The videos were forwarded by Sebastian Keezheth, the vicar of Atakkathode Church in the high ranges of Kannur. Sebastian is the director of Mathruvedi, a church-sponsored organization that ‘works’ for the spiritual upliftment of mothers under the parishes. The website of Syro-Malabar church says “the organisation has formed in the parish aiming at the revival of families through mothers and help raise the community in a life deep routed in Christian faith”.
Mathruvedi is comprised of women devotees from 12 parishes under the Mananthavadi diocese. The Whatsapp group has 400 ladies and nuns as members. Minors also reportedly share such groups.
When the incident became public, Mananthavadi Bishop Joseph Perunnedam removed Sebastian from the post of director of Mathruvedi. The Mananthavadi Diocese PRO said that the church had appointed a three-member committee to investigate the issue and collect evidence.
There has been no news about the women and children welfare organisations looking into the issue. It should be ensured that no law was breached in exposing minors to sleazy content and probes should be held to find out whether women are subjected to such harassment by the priest individually. but as both women and child rights bodies are dominated by abrahamics, especiall Christians, such incidents go unnoticed and under reported.
Diocese spokesperson Sallu Abraham said, “If the committee finds the offence is grave enough to be forwarded to the police, they will do so”. It is anyone’s guess what the committee will do considering what the church did in the case of Bishop Franco Mullakkal who raped a nun.
It is alleged that the church committee aims to try and destroy evidence. Meanwhile, the accused priest is also free to intimidate witnesses and victims. He will be transferred to another parish where such priests continue indulging in similar crimes. Had the same incident happened in a Hindu place of worship, the police and the administration would have pounced on the accused.
From the photos, it appears that Sebastian is well past his prime. With little hair left, he looks more like a retired grandfather, and yet he indulged in such sexual mischief. It is unknown how many women and nuns he sexually harassed while still young.
Shamelessly, the priest tried to justify his behavior, which landed him in an even more embarrassing situation. He claimed that it was an error on his part and that another priest sent him those porn videos. Sebastian claimed he was replying to that priest when the videos accidentally got forwarded to the Mathruvedi group.
