Apparently the priest is a well-known figure in Lebanon. He is the founder of a spiritual movement called Lo Tedhal, is the author of several books and composed famous hymns. After this scandal though, we won’t be hearing much about him as he will be banned from participating in media and public appearances.
A Lebanese Maronite priest, Father Mansour Labaki, was charged by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith with sexually abusing three minors and sentenced to a “life of penitence,” French magazine La Croix reported. According to the Sunday report, the Vatican office charged Labaki on June 19 with the sexual offenses. Labaki, a 73-year-old priest, was “sentenced to a life of prayer and penitence,” and will be banned from exercising his ecclesiastical duties. [NowLebanon]
“Labaki, a 73-year-old priest, was sentenced to a life of prayer and penitence”
I’m sure his victims will be happy to hear this sentence.
Lets become monks and… Love kids
To be sentenced to a life of prayers !
The title should read “Father Mansour Labaki convicted…” not “accused”. He was charged, he tried to appeal and failed. The judgment came from the highest authority in the catholic Church and it is final.
Not enough , prison is where sexual abusers should be. Priest or not.
I agree! This nasty priest was, for several years at the Maronite church my ex attended. Once when my ex had dozens of people from his church over to our house for a lavish meal, this nasty priest corned me in our L-shaped hallway and grabbed my breasts. I hated that slimy man! The congregation thought he was next to God! Even before he grabbed me, a grown wife and mother, I felt my skin crawl every time I was around him.
Exploiting kids in the name of religion is just sickening.
For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. 3″Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4″Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye?…
The difference is to be noticed when one likes to judge a deed or a doer. But it is rather disturbing when it comes to priests who abuse the noble substance of God’s law…These priests must be locked up for life and be whipped daily, not as Christ was whipped…they bring shame to Christ and Christianity…
What laws protect children against sexual abuse in Lebanon? Does anyone here know? Could he be considered a criminal in the Lebanese legal system?
Knowing that ignoble child abuser very well, let me assure you that throughout his “career” he sexually abused a lot more children than the three he was actually convicted of abusing in France.
Had there been a decent judiciary system in Lebanon, they would have interrogated his victims – tens of children of both sexes – whom he had taken into custody in his Lebanon-based “Lo Tedhal” premises. The pedophile has sexually abused more than one generation of children and should be tried in a civilian court and emprisoned.
Well said, Simon…sexual abuse of a child by one of the cloth whom they trust as a vehicle of God’s Love, especially in orphans where the usual vehicle of God’s care, parents have tragically been lost, may be worse/more confusing for the child than when done by others, bad as it always is, this soul murder.At first I was shocked but with time I thought back when he came to our Catholic high school and recalled some of the things i had noted in him, even while some of us sort of idlolized him for his musical talents. And then I was not so totally shocked. Black Sabboth a british hard rock/metal group has a new cd this year and one song entitled “Dear Father”, with dark riffs and darker words but nevertheless words giving appropriate expression to the degree of rage the vicitms have a right to feel. It may validate the horrid,confusing experience vicitms hold in secret and shame for years and leaving them with emotions all twisted up like a piece of metal, they have to untwist everyday in order to even know what they are feeling and what emotions they can trust. May God’s healing Love start to heal the victims, I pray.. though they will have to find the true living God, and shed the false god, his actions if true, may have reflected to them.
http://beirutntsc.blogspot.com/2013/10/mansour-labaki-and-tarnished-collective.html
I think if this realy happened by this preist, it is a disaster.I pray for him and ask God to forgive him. But he should not be seen by any body until the end of his life to be a lesson to every preist to not insult the church . If any preist find himself unable to continue in his mission he should be brave and do his best with the head of the church to leave his place .
Insult the church? INSULT THE CHURCH? That’s what worries you in this crime? What about the innocent children he has defiled, abused and psychologically scarred for life?
A lesson to all paedophiles would be to lock them up in jail – not in solitary to protect him from other prisoners, but with the general jail population.
These priests abuse the trust these children have in them and use it to satisfy their base urges and all the church does is tell them to pray more and repent.
The church is insulting us with that punishment.
You have spoken the truth. You have spoken on behalf of many victims.
What a shame… i am really speechless.
i do not believe that he did this to the kids,you people are sick,to believe this about father Labaki.You can not judge on a person without,knowing the truth.
I do not know wht to say it is so hard to believe and we have the right to know the truth I always liked this piest and had watch his programs I am lost really help me understand
The Vatican has been guilty of covering up so many cases of sexual abuse by priests in the past years.
Logically speaking, if they found this priest guilty then he must have been among the worst offenders. Put him in jail.
I am positively impressed by all those who contributed an opinion in this blog regarding the despicable acts of child molestation perpetrated by this depraved creature.
I am impressed because none of the blog’s contributors sided with the child molester, and this I suppose is an attitude of deference toward his victims. I appreciate that, but knowing that despicable person, I cannot remain in the sidelines.
I would, therefore, like to share with this level-headed audience a few points in relation to this heart-wrenching saga.
Have you discerned in the case on hand the three classical and well-trodden ploys any culprit will try to use to hamper both the investigation and the trial?
Here are the three ploys:
Ploy Number 1:
The culprit denies everything and claims innocence. This because at this stage, he knows the what he is accused of, but he has no inkling as to the strength of the array of irrefutable proofs investigators were able to gather against him.
Ploy Number 2:
Once he becomes aware of the damning proofs, the culprit and his lawyer(s) try to swamp the tribunal – and public opinion – with legal technicalities and procedural issues such as those used in this particular case:
– the defendant did not “have his files with him” . Holy Grail! What files? Undoubtedly those labeled “MOLESTED LITTLE GIRLS” !
– the Vatican’s justice system was “expeditious”. What a brazen lie! Investigation took the best part of two years and no less than 17 written and documented accusations were collected.
– the verdict was not communicated promptly to the indicted, as if this technical delay could in any way mitigate the culpability of the child molester!
Ploy Number 3:
When the indicted criminal realizes that all the equivocations have failed to produce the desired result, he resorts to spreading doubt about his abominable acts. That is exactly what the criminal is currently trying to do by urging his “followers” – ( pity their judgment ) – to ‘at least doubt these insults.”
Draw your own conclusions.
Once more I wish to congratulate the contributors to this blog for the respect they showed for the victims’ feelings.
These are the Pope’s words.
It is as if he had the unrepenting Labaki pedophile in mind when he said them.
يسوع لا يتعب أبدًا من المغفرة ويطلب منا أن نغفر لبعضنا البعض. استهل الأب الأقدس عظته انطلاقًا من كلمات الرب يسوع في نص الإنجيل الذي تقدمه لنا الليتورجية اليوم والذي يطلب فيه يسوع منا مسامحة الأخ التائب، قائلاً: “إِذا خَطِئَ إِلَيكَ أَخوكَ فوَبِّخْهُ، وإِن تابَ فَاغفِرْ له. وإِذا خَطِئَ إِلَيكَ سَبعَ مَرَّات في اليَوم، ورجَعَ إِلَيكَ سَبعَ مَرَّات فقال: أَنا تائِب، فَاغفِر له” وكأن به يرسم لنا صورة عنه وعن مغفرته لنا ولكنه يتابع ويقول أيضًا: “الوَيل لمنَ تَأتي الشكوك عن يَدِه. فلأن تُعَلَّق الرَّحى في عُنُقِه ويُلقى في البَحر أولى به مِن أَن يَكونَ حَجَرَ عَثرَةٍ لأَحَدِ هؤلاءِ الصِّغار”. ولكن ما هو الفرق إذًا بين الخاطئ ومسبب الشكوك تابع الأب الأقدس يتساءل.
قال البابا فرنسيس: الخاطئ يندم ويطلب المغفرة، يشعر بضعفه وبأنه ابن الله فيتواضع ويطلب الخلاص من الرب يسوع، أما الذي يسبب الشكوك فهو لا يندم ويستمر في خطئه ويتظاهر بأنه مسيحي: هذه هي ازدواجية الحياة! !