EDITORIAL - Adding insult to injury

As if the decision by Cebu City prosecutors to clear Catholic priest Benedicto Ejares of any culpability in the molestation of high school girls during confession was not painful and disappointing enough, along comes Cardinal Ricardo Vidal expressing his happiness with the decision.

How could you be happy, Cardinal? About 20 girls (although only seven pressed charges) were embraced, had their backs touched, their arms squeezed and tickled, and their bra straps played with by Ejares as he heard their confession through the holy sacrament of penance. Where is the cause for happiness in that?

The twisted logic of a few Cebu City prosecutors must not be allowed to make the whole of Christendom believe it is now perfectly all right for priests to touch and fondle young girls at confession provided there are other people present for the occasion.

In case anyone needs to be enlightened, let it be known that not even real biological fathers would toy with the bra straps of their teenaged daughters, not even in the presence of their families and in the privacy of their own homes. That is because there are things like delicadeza and respect that normal people extend to each other.

When the prosecutors described Ejares as the alter ego of Jesus Christ and were therefore suggesting there could be no evil intent imputed to his actions, it is hoped Your Happiness, er, Your Eminence did not subscribe to that notion, because it is highly blasphemous.

Clearly, in their desire to make Ejares walk, the prosecutors ignored the growing number of "alter egos" of Jesus Christ running afoul with all that is well and good. This growing number, screaming to be recognized, should have served as a warning beacon to all but the willfully deaf and deliberately blind that prudence was required.

But out the window prudence flew. The prosecutors obstinately proceeded with a line of reasoning that was tenable only by those similarly obfuscated. Against all sense of logic and fairness, they cleared Ejares and in the process condemned the girls.

It is not the wish of Cebuanos to crucify Ejares. Cebuanos are not mean people. Time and again they have shown the capacity and the willingness to abide by what is right and what is just. But the decision was not right and just. It was anchored more on morals than on law, by people who are neither here nor there.