Rute Agulhas says treatment of rapists in the church should be ‘coercive’

VITA group co-ordinator Rute Agulhas said therapeutic intervention for people who have committed sexual abuse within the Catholic Church should be mandatory, acknowledging that there is currently only one person in this situation.

In a conversation with Lusa ahead of the presentation on Monday at the Portuguese Episcopal Conference (CEP) of a proposal for financial compensation for victims of sexual abuse in the church context, the psychologist admitted that after eight months of Grupo Vita’s activity, there is only one person under psychological supervision as an aggressor, and this is not surprising. given the generally low motivation of these elements to seek help.

“This must be mandatory,” said Rute Agulhas, emphasizing: “We also always turn to bishops, religious institutions, in short, to the structures of the Church, so that they somehow put pressure on people who may be suspected of committing or committing crimes of a sexual nature for the purpose of accepting the therapeutic process.”

According to the psychologist, alleged sexual aggressors usually make excuses by blaming the victims and justifying their behavior, so it is extremely important to have external motivation that prevails over the person’s lack of will.

“This external motivation could be just such a more coercive approach on the part of the Church itself, in the sense of somehow forcing these people to seek help, so that later the therapist could, over time, create some conditions for the emergence of some other internal motivation. But we know that this internal motivation, at least initially, is very low,” he explained.

The case, seen from the point of view of the rapist, reached the VITA Group, according to the coordinator, precisely because of pressure from the religious institution with which the man was associated, indicating the need for more decisive action on the part of the Portuguese Catholic Church.

“In the first stage, the Church could play a very important role in guiding these people to the therapeutic process, even if people in the first stage say that they do not want or need it, but at least provide an opportunity in a therapeutic context to approach this is different,” he emphasized.

Rute Agulhas also stressed that the group’s goals for 2024 include developing a roadmap for all dioceses in the country to learn about local realities and highlight the importance of providing psychological support to victims and suspected attackers. “They may not have committed a sexual offense yet, but are having some difficulty adapting to this level and therefore also [atuar] in preventive logic,” he concluded.

Grupo VITA, established in April 2023, can be contacted via its hotline (915090000) or via the registration form on the website www.grupovita.pt.

VITA grew out of the work of the Independent Commission into Child Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church, led by pediatric psychiatrist Pedro Strecht, which over the course of nearly a year verified 512 cases that occurred between 1950 and 2022. indicating for extrapolation a minimum number of victims of 4815 people.