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Church Invokes God´s Mercy To Hold Catholic Funeral For Convicted Pedophile

Updated: January 11, 2006 05:00 PM GMT
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An 81-year-old man, the first person in India to serve a life term for pedophilia, was given a Catholic burial nine months after his death, with the officiating priest saying that judgment about his life was for God, not men, to make.

Albert Freddy Peats, a Eurasian, died April 4, 2005, in a jail in the western Indian state of Goa. Jail officials delayed the burial while they gave sufficient time for claimants to retrieve the body.

Peats, a baptized Catholic according to government records, was buried Jan. 6 at St. Inez cemetery of St. Agnes, Virgin and Martyr Church in the state capital of Panaji, 1,910 kilometers southwest of New Delhi. Twelve people known to Peats, eight of them jail officials, attended the 15-minute funeral rite.

Father Valeriano Vaz, who conducted the rite, selected the Bible passage narrating Jesus´ death on the cross between two criminals. He reminded the gathering of Jesus´ promise to one of the criminals, who repented of his sins, that they would meet in paradise.

"Let us entrust our friend Freddy into the hands of God. May God forgive all his failings and grant him eternal rest," Father Vaz prayed in conclusion.

Later, Father Vaz told UCA News: "Judgment is not ours. Judgment is God´s. Peats committed a mistake and was publicly condemned, but in prison he had ample opportunity to reflect on his life and repent."

The priest said he was unaware of Peats´ disposition at the time of his death. But he added, "Grace is instantaneous."

Toward the end of Peats´ life, he was not in full command of his faculties. "One cannot hold him responsible for not confessing his sins. He was not in a state to make a confession," Father Vaz explained.

Peats was serving his term in Aguada Central Jail, in Sinquerim, 15 kilometers north of Panaji, when he suffered the stroke that led to his death.

Father Vaz went on to add that confession is not the only vehicle for forgiveness. He pointed out that the sins of an individual who makes an act of perfect contrition could be forgiven even without Confession.

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church: "The bodies of the dead must be treated with respect and charity, in faith and hope of Resurrection. The burial of the dead is a corporal work of mercy; it honors the children of God, who are temples of the Holy Spirit."

Police busted Peats´ decade-long pedophile racket in 1991. Investigation revealed that he ran an orphanage in the seaside village of Colva, 40 kilometers south of Panaji, but used it to sexually exploit destitute children and to sell them to other pedophiles. Peats was found in possession of 2,305 pornographic photographs. He was charged with forcing boys aged 6-16 into homosexual activities, and with possessing drugs and pornographic material.

Following his arrest on April 3, 1991, he was granted bail within 45 days. Five years later, on March 21, 1996, he was convicted. His accomplice, Eoghan Colm McBride, was extradited from New Zealand and sentenced in July 2002 to seven years´ imprisonment with hard labor.

According to Sister Mary Jane, who heads Goa archdiocese´s prison ministry, Peats used to speak in his last days of God´s mercy. "Whenever we met him in jail, he used to say God is merciful, God is forgiving, and expressed his confidence that God would forgive him," the 63-year-old Holy Family nun told UCA News.

Peats "asked me to pray for God´s mercy and forgiveness much before he died," she added. He admitted that he had "committed mistakes" in his life, she said, noting that for a while after his conviction, he continued to claim that he was innocent and that his sentence was a violation of human rights.

According to jail superintendent H. Kenaudekar, Peats had been physically weak since a few months before his death. "On a number of occasions, we had taken him to hospital. We had even referred his case for premature release due to old age and sickness. The matter was being studied by the government when he passed away," the superintendent said.

Jail authorities asked Sister Jane to arrange the last rites "because on record Peats was a baptized Catholic."

Some people in Goa are outraged at the Catholic burial given to Peats.

"This man led a scandalous life. He destroyed so many young children. How could they even think of a Catholic burial?" Simon Barreto asked. Others had similar reactions.

Father Vaz, however, noted that even civil authorities assumed a Christian burial was Peats´ right. "Peats had not said that he did not want a Christian burial. Had he said so, we would not have conducted it," the priest said.

Church law denies Church funeral rites to notorious apostates, heretics and schismatics, and to those who wished to be cremated for anti-Christian motives. It also denies Church funeral to other "manifest sinners to whom a Church funeral could not be granted without public scandal to the faithful."

END

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