SÃO PAULO, Brazil – While the trial of two Spanish-born Jesuit priests, both of them formerly provincials of the Society of Jesus in Bolivia who were charged with covering up abuse cases, was rescheduled to begin in March, the Bolivian network of abuse survivors managed to promote a national encounter of victims and hopes they will be adequately invited by Justice to take part in the current procedure.

Father Marco Recolons and Father Ramón Alaix were provincials of the Jesuits during the time when dozens of cases of sex abuse were perpetrated by Father Alfonso “Pica” Pedrajas and failed to tell the authorities. Padre Pica, also born in Spain, was a missionary in Bolivia for decades and wrote about his crimes in his diary.

He abused at least 85 boys and died in 2009. Pica was never taken to the courts for his many crimes.

The trial was set to begin on Jan. 23. The 81-year-old Recolons hasn’t attended it in person, claiming that he is too old. Alaix, 83, also failed to show up and told the court he was sick. The tribunal then postponed the beginning of the trial for Mar. 26.

While the Bolivian abuse survivors received the news of the trial with enthusiasm, they told Crux a number of mistakes were made by the Judiciary.

“None of us was invited to take part in the court proceedings. That’s irregular. We should have been notified of the process,” explained Edwin Alvarado, a founding member of the association of victims.

Alvarado says Justice authorities claimed that they only had the pseudonyms of 16 members of the group, and that’s why the notifications couldn’t be properly done. However, two other victims were identified with their real names (and weren’t notified as well), and all the group had informed its addresses to the court.

“One of the victims told the Judiciary about that problem and a new document was required from him if he wanted to get into the court, something that is also irregular,” Alvarado added.

He said the 18 victims of Padre Pica – those who had the courage to show their faces and appear in the suit – have to be notified of the trial and must be allowed to work on their particular accusation against the former provincials.

“We’ll insist on such aspects and hope to rectify the process,” he continued. On Jan. 23, the victims accompanied the session in court as if they were “an adornment,” Alvarado said.

He complained about the fact that the judge was replaced, as well as two prosecutors who knew the scenario of the cases.

“The previous judge knew very well the case and had even mentioned the possibility of charging them for crimes against humanity. We have to keep that spirit,” he said.

Padre Pica worked for years at School John 23, in Cochabamba, and there committed his crimes. In his descriptions, he mentions that he commented on some of the abuse cases with superiors. But nothing has ever been done.

His diary ended up being the cause for his notoriety as a serial abuser even after his death. It was discovered by his nephew, who decided to hand it in to a journalist of Spanish newspaper El País.

The revelation sparked outrage in the South American country and greatly damaged the image of the Church.

“Besides the two former provincials, three others have been indicted in separate cases. That means that we have 30 years of Jesuit institutionality under analysis now,” Alvarado said, adding that the congregation doesn’t have “any credibility any more at this point.”

The network of abuse survivors gathered in Cochabamba after the beginning of the trial and decided to stay focused on obtaining the official notification for the process.

“One of our final goals is to avoid those things from happening again. We understand that the Jesuits were frequently abusers because they had an institution that supported them,” he said.

Alvarado explained that covering up such an offence is a minor crime in Bolivia, one that shouldn’t result in sentences higher than 2 years. But a confirmation in court that the Society of Jesus was covering up abuse would confirm the networks’ denouncements.

“A social segment formed by vulnerable people (children) was left everyday with the Jesuits to be taken care of. But that group was systematically violated – in an institution that was famous for offering good education,” Alvarado said.