Carla Gilis (57) sees how the priest who abused her is on the list of the priest’s council: “Those men really have no idea what we have experienced”

Carla (57) was abused by the priest from her village between the ages of eleven and fourteen. After the Canvas series Godforsaken in which several victims testified about how they were abused as a child by a Catholic priest or father, she found the courage to go to the reporting center for sexual abuse in the Church. “It happened during the catechesis for my solemn communion and confirmation, about once a month,” she tells her story. “I later heard that that man was still making victims, but I don’t know who they are.”

Settlement just signed

On Tuesday evening she discovered how the same priest, together with two other perpetrators of sexual abuse, is now on the electoral list for the priests’ council of the Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels, an advisory body that assists Archbishop Luc Terlinden. She had been at the table at the same Terlinden a week earlier about the abuse. “I had to hear the news about that electoral list from a journalist,” she says. “Scandalous. To puke. I saw Terlinden last Thursday, he signed my settlement agreement (the contract in which the financial compensation for the abuse is determined, ed.) and apologized. Now the same man he apologized for should be allowed to advise him if he is elected to the priest council? It’s yet another drama. Incomprehensible.”

“I saw Terlinden last Thursday, now the same man he apologized for could advise him if he is elected to the priest council?”

Carla Gilis

Victim of abuse within the Church

According to Geert De Kerpel, spokesperson for Archbishop Terlinden, “a serious mistake has occurred”. “These lists are a very administrative matter, all priests of Flemish Brabant are automatically included. The person who sends out the lists does not know for whom a settlement has been concluded, which is in principle a very discreet private matter. But there should have been an intermediary there who knew that. He could have gone over the names to make it clear that so or so is not allowed to appear there. The bishop was not shown that list, otherwise he would have immediately identified and deleted those names.” Carla has little understanding for it. “If I have to forward such important documents, this is also thoroughly checked by my boss. It is unacceptable that this could happen.”

Geert De Kerpel says that they are willing to contact her. In a press release, Archbishop Luc Terlinden also apologizes and says that appropriate measures will follow. (Read more below the photo)

When asked whether Carla is willing to talk to Luc Terlinden again, she answers “I don’t think so”. Should he resign as priest Rik Devillé asks? “That makes no sense, I’m afraid. After Godforsaken we had hoped that action would finally be taken, but in the end it turns out that nothing has changed. I feel like we’re back in Operation Chalice, a cover-up. The investigative committee has not yielded anything either. I really don’t know what to do anymore. Sven Pichal served three months in prison and remains under electronic monitoring for distributing child pornography. Those priests were allowed to just abuse teenagers without consequences… I really can’t understand that.”

No empathy

“That abuse completely marked my life. That’s why a relationship has always been difficult. Physically the idea alone is so repulsive because of what I have experienced. But also mentally, I have a huge fear of commitment. I have been alone for fifteen years now. After seeing Godforsaken I recognized myself in many of the testimonies. Strengthened by this, I went to the sexual abuse reporting center in the Church at the end of last year to have myself recognized as a victim.”

She hoped to be able to gradually close the story, but with what happened now, that is a lot more difficult for her. “Then why did I trust them with my story? Is there really no one within that archdiocese who takes this seriously, who shows a little empathy for the victims? Those men really have no idea what we have been through. No one has that, least of all her.”