Americans in search of sexual victims

Sir: Pope Francis is said to have changed a phrase in the Lord’s Prayer, from “and lead us not into temptation,” to “do not let us fall into temptation.” The prayer itself was a translation from Hebrew or Aramaic, probably through Greek and Latin. So, which is a better translation? The old phrase addresses God as if He was a wicked or bad leader and you are pleading with Him not to mislead you. Pope Francis’ version implies that if God does not guide and help us we can fall into temptation.

The other story sent to me by Legit.ng is that of a 65-year-old retired American teacher identified as Kathy Coll who filed a lawsuit against a former Nigerian Catholic priest, Cyprian Duru, who she alleged raped her in December 2016. What was the relationship? “She stated that she used to drive him to school since he was attending a school not so far from where they both lived close to the church,” and that “he would jog by every morning and stop for a chat.” In the final analysis, “Coll explained that she had felt safe to invite him home because she had been one of the members of the parish who welcomed him when he came from Nigeria.” On that day, as the story goes, she was watching a game and the priest joined her. She then went downstairs to get something to drink together, and Father Duru followed her and raped her, to the extent that he asked while raping her, “How has it been since your husband died?”

So, how did Coll respond to Duru’s question, angrily, or pleasurably? The answer is important, since a rapist felt so comfortable to be asking that type of question from an enraged victim; if she was enraged. I could not believe when an American priest working in Nigeria told me that such traps were set in America. Some years later, I came face to face with it in America, but I was much luckier than Duru. He became very close to Coll. I was not close to the woman in my story neither did I target her for sex. Indeed I never met her because she was supposed to be on summer holidays. She just came to the parish one morning to have breakfast with me. We were talking and she was castigating some priests for sexual impropriety. I told her as I tell people that the priests were human beings and they were not castrated. I did not know that I had committed sin. She then said she would show me her office “tomorrow”.

While there she became emotional telling me about her life, and I held her tight. Then she relaxed, and I relaxed. About two or three weeks later the assistant parish priest invited me. He was perambulating. Then I asked: “Did she say I wanted to rape her?” It was then he said, “Yes.” I then told him who I would have raped if I was a rapist: any of the beautiful White and Black girls who took turns as single receptionist alone with me in the house, and he agreed. Then I asked: “I wanted to rape her; why then did I not, since we were alone in her underground office?” The answer: “She said she was praying.” I laughed and my laughter closed the investigation. In Duru’s case, “The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages.” Is that not the goal of the entire story told by Coll?
Prof. Ọlọjẹẹde Oyeniran Abioje wrote from University of Ilorin.