The United States Catholic Church is looking at the possibility of setting up funds for sexual abuse victims allegedly committed by an American Catholic priest assigned in an upland village in Naval, Biliran.
US lawyer McDonald Worley visited Biliran on Tuesday to hear the stories of some of the alleged victims of Fr. Kenneth Bernard Pius Hendricks. The priest has been charged in his home state in Ohio since he is still a legal US citizen.
“A fund to compensate sexual abuse victims by Hendricks is being set up by the US Catholic Church. I am here to gather information and the jury will have to decide on the amount,” Worley told reporters in a press briefing here Wednesday.
“The criminal charge is different. This is just a civil case for damages only filed by families of victims,” he added.
Worley explained that US law criminalizes illegal sexual conduct by Americans abroad. Since Hendricks is still a legal citizen of the US, he is subject to jurisdiction here.
The priest has also been charged in a federal court in Cincinnati, Ohio for illegal sexual conduct in a foreign place.
According to the lawyer, Hendricks would befriend young boys as young as seven years old “interested in becoming involved with the church. He would then lure them to his apartment where he would gradually progress from spending time with the boys to fondling them.”
The priest warned them they would go to prison if they told anyone about the molestation.
“I was saddened but I can’t say that I was surprised that also happened several times in the United States,” Worley added.
Hendricks lived in Naval town for about 40 years shortly after he studied in Cincinnati, Ohio seminary back in the 1960s.
Philippine authorities and US Homeland Security arrested Hendricks last Dec. 5, 2018, over indecent sexual conduct involving minors. The priest reportedly had 50 victims in Talustusan village in Naval town. (By Sarwell Meniano)
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