A simple middle class woman who has been abused and harassed stands against a powerful establishment that can pull strings anywhere. Mary’s fight for justice has been a long arduous journey. However, her plight remains unheard. Her story remains untold. Those who claim to be the voice of the voiceless have not even opened their mouth or have conveniently brushed the matter under the carpet. But her story needs to be told because, God forbid, you could be in Mary’s position tomorrow.
This is the story of Mary.
Background
Mary worked as an administrator in one of the top colleges in Chennai – Loyola College. She was abruptly terminated from her services after she complained of financial irregularities and sexual harassment by the former Director of Loyola Alumni Association, Father Xavier Alphonse.
Mary had found that Father Xavier Alphonse, was siphoning off nearly ₹1 crore from the corpus of the Loyola Alumni Association.
In 2013, Loyola College had organized “Star Night” attended by celebrities who were alumni of the college to raise funds for building a ‘Commerce Block’ in the campus. Mary and her son Joseph Dominic Kennedy who was the executive member of the Alumni Association had put in their best efforts to make the event a success. However, Father Xavier Alphonse had subverted their efforts by distributing a large number of tickets to his friends and family. He also siphoned off the funds received from the celebrities to a personal trust run by him.
Another serious complaint reported by Mary against Father Alphonse was that he had misused the scholarship scheme of the college. According to Mary, Alphonse was giving scholarship to ineligible candidates. Despite her blowing the whistle, the Loyola administration took no serious action on Father Xavier Alphonse. Instead, Mary was transferred to Rector’s office in February 2014.
But things only got worse from there.
Father Alphonse started abusing and sexually harassing Mary. She says that she was subjected to harassment at “every possible instance”.
“…sometimes he (Father Xavier Alphonse) behaved in a manner unbecoming of a reverend priest. In fact, he even attempted to create a rift in my family. I brought these matters to the notice of the management of the college who tried to pacify me but failed to take any meaningful action”, Mary says.
In fact, when she complained to the management about Father Xavier Alphonse sexually harassing her, the Loyola administration had dissuaded her from filing a police complaint citing that ‘it could affect the image of the college’. She was told that Father Alphonse was being transferred and that she should wait till then.
On the other hand, Father Xavier Alphonse had instigated a member of the Loyola Alumni Association to file a frivolous false complaint against her son Joseph Dominic Kennedy. Mary had then written to Coimbatore City Police Commissioner AK Viswanathan, an alumnus of the college in the hope of initiating an inquiry.
In September 2014, Loyola College asks Mary to take leave from her job and was assured that her salary for the period would be paid once she resumes while Father Xavier Alphonse is given a promotion and transferred to St. Joseph’s College, Trichy in June 2015.
When Mary approached the Principal of Loyola College in July 2015 to inquire about when she can resume her duties, she was asked to wait. On December 2015, the Loyola College Management informed that she will not be called to re-join. Mary contended that terminating her services without any show cause notice or enquiry is violative of the principles of natural justice, more particularly when the management has not issued any written order of termination. Her salary has also been not settled as of date. No enquiry into the sexual harassment has been carried out by the college management as per the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 and Vishakha Guideline given by the Supreme Court.
Instead, a victim of sexual harassment was further victimised.
The fight for justice
Mary filed a writ petition in the Madras High Court in February 2016 for taking action against Father Xavier Alphonse and also challenging her abrupt termination of services by Loyola College. The case was listed before a single bench and an order was issued to Father Xavier Alphonse and the Loyola College to respond within four weeks.
It has been more than four years. Neither has the Loyola College or Father Xavier Alphonse have filed a response nor has the Madras High Court heard the matter till now.
In an open letter sent by Justice Michael Saldanha to the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court on July 21, Justice Saldanha said that the delay in the disposal of this case has hurt him and observed that it reflects very seriously on the working of the judiciary. He requested for an expeditious disposal of the writ petition.
The Madras High Court then called the Loyola College and Father Xavier Alphonse to file their responses who have asked now time till August 28 for filing.
Meanwhile, Mr. Joseph Dominic Kennedy has been pursuing recourse through the Canon law. Canon law is the system of laws and legal principles that regulates the Catholic Church. Mr. Kennedy had approached the Jesuit Madurai Province to take up the matter and help his mother get justice. It fell on deaf ears.
In February 2019, Pope Francis convened the historic Vatican Sexual Abuse Summit, officially known as the Meeting on the Protection of Minors in the Church to discuss about preventing sexual abuse by the clergy of the Catholic Church. The invited delegation consisted of leading bishops and cardinals of the Roman Catholic Order.
This meeting had been possible because of the activism of “Ending Clergy Abuse”, a worldwide organization of human rights activists seeking to end sexual abuse in Church and help survivors get justice.
During this four day summit, the Vatican had met with some of the survivor leaders belonging to the ECA. Mr. Joseph Kennedy met the Superior General of the Jesuits at that time and apprised him of his mother’s case. Mr. Kennedy was promised action on the matter.
The Vatican did appoint a person to conduct an enquiry. But the enquiry was conducted through ‘emails’ in which Loyola College had brushed off the matter saying that the matter was ‘sub-judice’ when in fact Loyola College didn’t even respond to the writ petition filed at the Madras High Court.
Enter Team Hail Mary
Disappointed by the Vatican’s initial response, Team Hail Mary organized by the President of The All India Christian Forum Savio Rodrigues wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to initiate a dialogue with the Vatican, Catholic Church in India and other Christian denominations on sexual abuse by Pastors, Priests and Bishops in India in September 2019. The letter details about the legal struggle that the mother-son duo had been through. It also highlighted their helplessness and the disappointment that they have received so far through the recourses that they have taken so far. In response to this letter, the PMO had said that each community should come out with their own institutional mechanism to address these issues.
This move by Team Hail Mary had prompted the Jesuit Curia in Rome to introspect and launch another full-fledged investigation. It was around this time that Madurai Jesuit Province was split into two – Madurai Jesuit Province and Chennai Province. Loyola College, Chennai comes under the Jesuits Madurai Province.
This was done because, the Provincial of Madurai Jesuit Province Fr. Danis Ponniah’s unwilling to take responsibility of the fiasco left behind by his predecessor Fr. Sebasti L. Raj SJ.
“The response from Fr. Lisbert D’Souza followed a playbook for concealing the truth. In August 2018, the Jesuit Superior General, released a letter calling on all Jesuits to share in the suffering of abuse victims and to help foster a culture of protection, but Fr. Lisbert D’Souza (Bombay Province, India) showed no interest whatsoever in addressing the abuse cases in India, a vile response which I had reported to the Jesuit Superior General and his Admonitor Fr. Fr. Douglas W. Marcouiller (USA). They were both warm and extremely receptive.” Mr. Kennedy was quoted saying in the Goa Chronicle.
It is to be noted that the Vatican investigation into a case of clergy sexual abuse in an American church led to bringing to books all the clerics who had indulged in sexual abuse.
Mary’s case has now been referred to the National Human Rights Commission and National Commission for Women who have now taken cognizance of the matter.
Who is Father Xavier Alphonse?
Father Xavier Alphonse served as the Director of Loyola College Alumni Association. He was also a 2 time member of the University Grants Commission (UGC). However, not many outside Loyola circles would know if these credentials are given.
For those wondering who Father Xavier Alphonse is, he is the brother of Xavier Britto, the brother-in-law of SA Chandrasekhar (father of Actor Vijay). Xavier Britto is the producer of Actor Vijay’s upcoming film ‘Master’.
Xavier Britto earlier served as a professor in Loyola College. Today, he is financing films worth several crores with his nephew. It would do good to recall that Income Tax Officers had raided Xavier Britto’s offices for tax evasion. It is said that Xavier Britto is the benami of Actor Vijay.
Father Xavier Alphonse too is accused of corruption and was ousted from Loyola College in 1994 for embezzlement of funds. But he manages to get in later despite his questionable track record.
Where are the virtue signallers?
Recently, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) that found a mention in the Academy Award winning film Spotlight, has extended its support to the All India Christian Forum (AICF) that is helping Mary get justice in the Loyola College sexual harassment case.
In a message to the founder of AICF Mr. Savio Rodrigues, who also runs the goachronicle.com, Mr. Tim Lennon, President of the SNAP Network said “Mary, a faculty member of Loyola College, seeks justice in the courts yet is blocked by inaction. We call on the court to provide a path to justice for her.”
SNAP Network is an independent, peer network of survivors of institutional sexual abuse. It is the oldest, largest and the most active support group for women and men wounded by religious and institutional authorities (priests, ministers, bishops, deacons, nuns, coaches, teachers, and others.
While those from outside Tamil Nadu and even India (like SNAP) have been vociferously talking about the matter and trying to help Mary get justice, the silence from within the state is deafening. The Tamil mainstream media news channels have looked the other way. The virtue signallers of South Indian film industry like actors Surya, Vijay, Vijay Sethupathi have their mouths zipped and none of them have extended support to Mary. Only one Youtuber named Karthik Gopinath has spoken about this in Tamil Nadu.
The case is up for hearing at the Madras High Court on August 28.
Mary is getting ready for her next battle.