<<The following post has been edited for clarity.>>
On 1-15-2025, the PSO responded to my blog post “Archbishop Goh’s Policy of Cover-up” in an email: …Please be informed that this investigation is not in our capacity as members of the Archdiocese Professional Standards Office, Singapore but as appointed investigators on behalf of the Custody of St Anthony (Malaysia-Singapore-Brunei).
However I had been reassured that members of the PSO handling the investigation were NOT part of the Custody’s staff as employees or as volunteers. In an email on December 9, 2024, they told me: We write to inform you that [we] have recently been approached by the Custody of St Anthony (“Custody”) to investigate your complaint about the alleged violation….[We] are lay persons and are not part of the Custody’s staff, whether as employees or as volunteers.
The emails I received came from this address: pso.secretariat@catholic.org.sg. Indeed, the people I spoke with identified themselves as representing the PSO.
So given their communications to me to date, there is no way I could guess or assume the members of the PSO who told me they are with the PSO are not really with the PSO. According to them they are not investigating in their “capacity” as members of the PSO. But they aren’t representing the Franciscans either. Apparently they are free floating investigators beholden to no ethical standards or oversight. How would any complainant know what to think?
Why engage in this kind of obfuscation, this violation of the Eighth commandment. Because of course they answer to Archbishop Goh who IS the responsible party. And under him they are admitting that even in cases of rape they would engage in cover up.
Never-the-less based on this last email, it seems clear the PSO (Archbishop Goh) would like Friar Derrick Yap of the Franciscans of Custody of St Anthony to take any blame for the secret anti-Christian policies of the PSO.
I call upon Archbishop Goh to release the policies of the PSO of the archdiocese of Singapore and to answer this question:
“If you or the office of the PSO, which you head, discover someone was assaulted or otherwise violated while they were unconscious, would you let that victim know?”
But to be sure, if Friar Derrick Yap would like to answer this question too, that would be great but completely out of character. Surely this couldn’t be a hard question to answer. Yet this question is what has thrown a wrench in the system.
When the PSO is hollow and just for show, innocent priests can never clear their name. Priests who are guilty of misconduct can never make amends and reconcile as Christians are called to do. See “Priest Victims”.