We are the group of Lithuanian Catholics who appeal to you as our Sheppard and the Vicar of our Lord Jesus Christ. We ask you to intercede for two sexually abused children whose stories became the tragedy of our whole country.
In 2008 Drasius Kedys appealed to justice system for possible multiple sexual abuse of his four year old daughter and her eight year old cousin. According to the witness of his daughter their mothers were selling children as sexual objects to men. Only two of men among other mentioned in the child’s witness were identified. Both of these men were persons of prominence. The child’s witness was substantiated by five official criminal investigative interviews and four separate psychological evaluations.
Drasius Kedys with the help of his sister Neringa Venckiene, who is a lawyer, sent more than fifty written appeals to different appropriate institutions (starting with the local police department and all the way to the President of Lithuania). In November of 2008 the resonant case of pedophilia began to be investigated, but it was delayed and later obvious attempts to halt the investigation began. After all the facts and convincing evidence that there is a powerful clan of pedophiles in Lithuania was presented to the public, this investigation seems to be in limbo.
On the fifth of October, 2009, the day before the court hearing N. Naruseviciene, who was suspected of selling her 8 year old daughter was killed. One of the suspect pedophiles, a prominent judge J. Furmanavicius was also killed that day. On the same day D. Kedys (the father of the four year old victim) disappeared and was immediately publically accused by procurators of murdering those two people.
The second possible victim of pedophilia eight years old Naruseviciute was taken out of the country by her father (who was previously convicted of crimes 14 times) with the permission of procurators. We have not heard about her wellbeing since she left Lithuania.
On the 17 of April 2010 was found the body of D. Kedys, who died under mysterious circumstances. According to the official version the reason for his death is asphyxia with the content of his stomach. However in the eyes of his family members and in the consensus of at least 5000 people at his funeral D. Kedy’s body was almost unrecognizable due to evidence of extreme torture.
On the 14 of May 2010, thousands of people in Lithuania and around the world opposed the decision of the court to immediately return D. Kedy’s daughter to her mother. Several days later this decision was pronounced invalid.
On the 13 of June 2010 just couple of days before the court Andrius Usas who was a business man, a politician and also the only left alive identified suspect of pedophilia was found dead. According to the official version he drowned in half a meter deep bog. Most people in Lithuania don’t believe this version since the circumstances of his death are very odd. We were most horrified by the child’s witness that A. Usas who was her godfather sexually abused her even on the day of her Baptism with mother’s consent.
In November of 2010 the future of the child is being decided. The judge responsible for her case has already publically declared his opinion that the child needs to live with her mother although her witness (evidence) about mother’s pimping has not been proved as false. The child also expressed her desire to live with her present guardian who is her aunt N. Venckiene.
Since the beginning of the atrocity we have been fighting this evil with prayer and the Eucharist. In the presence of danger thousands of people prayed. People from all walks of life, both prayerful and not, have come together in prayer to save children from the evil of pedophilia. We as Christians can’t be indifferent to the little girl and her mother in the presence of obvious danger when four people had already died in strange circumstances. Volunteers have been doing a vigil 24 hours a day outside this child’s home since May of 2010. Several priests often pray with them by their own initiative. We are very thankful to God for these priests. They encourage us and help to strengthen the faith of all of us. However our Lithuanian bishops have been officially ignoring this story. It is very sad that the Church is not supporting us in the midst of this tragedy which deeply concerns most if not all Lithuanian people.
Situation is becoming more and more hopeless. On the 3rd of November the court made a (closed for appeal) decision to cease all allegations against child’s mother (although the previous decision to investigate allegations against her was not followed through). Therefore there are no legal means for the child’s guardians to protect her. In spite of this decision we are not giving up hope and continue to plead for help from God and His Church.
Two people representing all concerned Catholics spoke to the local bishop Sigitas Tamkevicius and asked for his pastoral support in defending God’s little ones in mortal danger. He responded that he could not help us in any way and also advised us not to go any further with our request. Sigitas Tamkevicius happens to be the head of the Lithuanian Bishops’ Conference and as such he assured us that no support of any kind would be granted from the Catholic Church in this tragedy, stating that it was not the Church’ role to resolve justice issues. Of course we not asking for the Church to do the criminal investigation and find the guilty ones in this story. We are not asking (we never expected) the Church to resolve the corruption of our government. We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ is not indifferent to our suffering and we desperately need the support of His Church. We are the weakest side in this battle and we are losing it. In the midst of this darkness and desperation we need our Church’s light to shine so we would not lose our hope even facing the apparent victory of evil in the presence of violent deaths and dreadful fear of very possible future tragedies (which among many could be deaths of the child and her mother). We are asking for the Church to call all the faithful to prayer for protection of the innocence and life of God’s little ones. We are asking for the Church to intercede for us and say a word of consolation. Lithuanian Catholics and especially the families suffering from this tragedy need their Church.
We need the support which is bigger than personal or group prayer. This battle is far beyond the legal level. It is the spiritual battle between good and evil. Dear Holy Father, we need your word. We need your prayer.
With love and trust we will be waiting for your answer.
Source:
http://drasiuskedys.droitfondamental.eu/?p=254
