Having resided in the United States since the age of 18, a 62-year-old woman alleges she was sexually abused at the age of 10 by a priest on Pico island in the Azores.
She traveled to Terceira Island on Tuesday to testify before members of the inquiry commission, but the meeting did not take place.
In a letter to the president of the National Coordination Team of Diocesan Commissions for the Protection of Minors, the woman expressed feeling “defrauded” by the missed opportunity to be heard.
“Did I come from North Carolina, via Boston, 15 hours by car, to Terceira to be heard? Or did I come to Terceira to be humiliated? Disrespected? Invalidated? After everything that happened, I came at my own risk, in good faith, to meet with you and am treated this way? How can a victim support commission act like this?” she questioned.
According to the complainant, the meeting with a representative of Group VITA and a representative of the National Coordination Team of Diocesan Commissions for the Protection of Minors and Vulnerable Adults was initially scheduled at a hotel, but the location was changed to an administrative building of the Diocese of Angra the day before.
“This left me perplexed. How could the commission schedule this room? After everything that happened to me, should I feel comfortable in this structure? I found it insensitive and, above all, a lack of respect for myself,” she noted.
The woman stated that a cousin, acting as her representative in Portugal, went to the meeting place to inform them that she could not attend the meeting at that building.
She reported receiving an email from the person in charge of Group VITA, who “without any empathy, sensitivity, or even any sense of humanity, replied that the location was changed because the original venue did not meet conditions of privacy or acoustics,” adding that the hotel was also owned by the Church.
According to the complainant, the commission representatives moved to the hotel, but she was not “clearly informed” that the location had been changed again.
When she realized it, she said she sent a message expressing her availability to meet on Tuesday afternoon and today, but was told via email that she had not followed procedures and that “this evaluation process would be closed.”
In a statement responding to questions posed by the Lusa agency, Group VITA and the Diocesan Commission of Angra rejected the accusations.
“The inquiry commission made itself fully available and vehemently refutes the accusations made against it,” they stated.
The commission members claimed “everything was done for the process to proceed as planned,” highlighting that one member traveled specifically to Terceira Island to hear the complainant.
“The hearing location was altered and subsequently changed again to try to meet the person’s needs,” they added.
The statement revealed that on the eve of the first meeting, it was realized that the available room “did not have the best privacy conditions from an acoustic perspective,” prompting a change to “a room in an urban building with no religious context.”
According to the commission, the complainant confirmed her attendance the day before, but at the scheduled time, 10:00 a.m., sent a family member to demand she be heard at the initially defined location.
Commission members said they contacted the complainant to explain the reason for the room change and inquired how she wished to proceed, but received no response.
Around 10:28 a.m., they went to the initially designated location and informed the complainant, who responded two minutes later saying “she would think about it and reply by noon.”
The commission emphasized that they informed the woman and her relative that the interviews required time and had to be conducted over two mornings, and due to the late hour, it was not possible to continue with the process.
According to the statement, the complainant suggested being heard in the presence of her cousin and conducting supplementary interviews online, but the regulations do not permit it.
“There is no provision for complainants to be accompanied by third parties, except in cases of vulnerability (due to age, illness, or disability). Similarly, remote interviews are not provided for,” they explained.
Lusa inquired the commission about the possibility of scheduling new meetings but did not receive a response.
