MANILA, Philippines (Reuters) - Elsa, a physical therapy teacher in a Philippine school, says she was about 7 years old when a priest in her hometown groped her breast and thighs. It happened in her house not once, not twice, but many times over.
Devastated and seared by guilt, she blocked everything from her mind for 20 years until 1993, when it came back to her after she stumbled on a news item about a young girl sexually molested by an uncle.
"I don't know if I want to see the priest again ... I am still angry. I think the church should acknowledge that these things are happening," Elsa, the only name she wants to go by, told Reuters.
Now 35, married and freed from her past after counseling by a nun, Elsa is one of an unknown number of victims of pedophiles in priest's robes in Asia's largest Roman Catholic country.
Her story, like those of others elsewhere in Asia, has come to light in the wake of a sex abuse scandal which has shaken the Catholic church in the United States.
Another case reported in local media involved two teen-age boys sexually abused by a priest in 1990.
"You will taste the food of God," one of the boys quoted the priest as saying, as the cleric wrapped him in his arms.
Christianity is dwarfed by Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism in Asia, but like other clergy in the region, Catholic priests wield huge influence over their flock. It takes rare courage for a victim to speak out against sexual abuse by a priest.
Sexual deviation among Catholic priests does not appear to be a problem in mainly Hindu India or in Singapore, where Buddhism has the largest following.
But in Hong Kong, at least six priests are alleged to have sexually abused children over the last 30 years.
The Hong Kong Catholic diocese, which found two of the priests guilty, is under strong public pressure to explain why it never reported the incidents to the police.
CLOAK OF SILENCE
Until the U.S. scandal erupted, the same cloak of silence had shrouded the church in the Philippines, where 85 percent of the 76 million people are Catholic.
Church officials recently admitted that 1.6 percent of the local clergy have been sexually active. For the first time, they publicly apologized for what the wayward among them had done.
Although abuse of minors was not specifically mentioned, priests privately said that pedophilia was a problem.
"This is a period of purification for us. We have to make hard decisions," said Monsignor Hernando Coronel, secretary general of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.
Composed of 120 bishops, the CBCP represents the church hierarchy in the Philippines. It will meet in July to draw up a protocol setting out guidelines on priestly conduct and laying down sanctions.
Failure to act decisively could erode not only the church's moral clout among its flock but seriously damage its efforts to spread the gospel across Asia, clergymen say.
"The denial stage is over. The worst thing now is procrastination," activist priest Father Robert Reyes said. "The danger is ... we will not be taken seriously any more."
"What kind of religion shall we preach, a religion that just pretends to want to change things but will not ... sweep the dirt out of its own house?"
In his 20 years as a priest, Reyes has heard of about 50 cases of sexual abuse among clerics, some involving minors.
A complete picture of the extent of sexual activity in a community with a vow of celibacy is impossible, he said.
GAY BISHOPS
"That kind of statistic will never be out. I don't even know if the bishops will be brave enough to conduct a survey because that will include them," Reyes said.
"If the surveys should be honest it should include how many of the bishops are gay and how many are not."
In the Philippines, the church holds sway in everyday life, including politics, but priests worry its influence will wane.
"If a stigma is cast on priests, this will damage our work. This issue of pedophilia will set us back," said Father Carmelo Caluag, who holds spiritual training workshops for young people.
"It will make our missionary work more difficult."
But the church is also worried wholesale expulsions will cut the already low numbers of men in the cloth. The Philippines has only 7,200 priests ministering to a flock of over 60 million.
Monsignor Coronel said rehabilitation through counseling or therapy would be a priority.
Some are more imaginative.
"If his (a priest's) weakness is young boys, we will put him up as a chaplain of old nuns. That's one recommendation. You have to keep them away from where there are temptations to sin," Coronel said.
Father Reyes is concerned the church will be overwhelmed by lawsuits unless it acts quickly to make amends to the victims.
"We no longer have the luxury of time ... We are just waiting for the inevitable."