The Catholic Church in Japan has stepped up preparations to investigate claims of sexual abuse by its Clerics against minors from 20 years ago.
Cruxnow reports that the Catholic Bishops’ Conference on Thursday in Japan established a committee to investigate the country’s 16 dioceses, revealing that details of the investigations had not been concluded.
This decision was reached in February after Pope Francis convened a bishops’ summit which served as a call to respond to worldwide scandals.
They made findings of two unreported cases in 2002 and five in 2015, both of which the conference said will be retroactively investigated.
Japan’s investigation details, including its start date and process will come up as soon as a decision is reached while the bishops’ body is considering seeking collaboration from external parties.
Some abuse cases are already out, like that reported by the Japan Times in 2014 on a students abused by staff at St. Mary’s International School in Tokyo beginning in 1965.
St. Mary’s is a catholic establishment founded in the 19th century by the Brothers of Christian Instruction in France which has schools In every continent.
President of the Japanese bishops’ conference, Archbishop Mitsuaki Takami told the New York Times on Monday that, “Japan’s Catholic Church is small, and we are not sure what we can do” about child sexual abuse.
“But we think we have to pay attention to this issue.” Takami added.
Takami recently apologized for not doing much, explaining to Katsumi Takenaka, a public servant in Tokoyo that “We are sorry we’ve not been able to do enough and caused you to suffer.”
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