Call for reforms

adminonNovember 10, 2021January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

The Baptist Union in the USA faces hundreds of abuse allegations against pastors and volunteers. Members of largest Protestant church in U.S. call for reforms.

The information service "Religion News Service" quoted the president of the Baptist Union, J.D. Greear, saying it is now time for "profound change". Abuse is not only a sin, but also a crime, he said. Greear called for prayers for the 700 abuse victims and the "many other victims" who are not yet known.

In the information service "Baptist Press", Baptist counselor Dale Johnson demanded on Tuesday (local time) that churches should in principle report sexual abuse to the police in the future.

Never before there was greater crisis

Former church president James Merritt says on Twitter short message service that never before has the church faced a major crisis. The Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News newspapers had reported over the weekend on numerous allegations of abuse in the 15-million-member Baptist Union.

In the past two decades, he said, 380 pastors and church workers have been credibly accused. The newspaper articles reported incidents in which church officials had not taken allegations seriously and had covered up for accused persons.

The founder of abuse charity Grace, Boz Tchividjian, said church leaders must examine whether they have contributed to the emergence of a culture that "ignores, marginalizes or demonizes" victims. On the NPR radio station, Tchividjian complained that children don't stand a chance when they accuse someone in a leadership position.

Symbol image abuse © Harald Oppitz (KNA)

The Catholic Church in Poland has for the first time provided accurate information on the extent of clergy sexual abuse. Bishops wrapped up their spring plenary meeting in Warsaw on Thursday.

Alleged 382 priests and religious abused minors, according to church files created from January 1990 to June 2018. This was announced by the Polish Bishops' Conference in Warsaw at the end of its spring plenary session. According to the statement, the files include reports on cases dating back to 1950. Of the 625 victims, 345 were under 15 years old, he said.

Poland's Primate Archbishop Wojciech Polak, referring to all those affected, said, "Each of these victims should awaken in us clergy pain, shame and guilt that this situation has occurred." He said it was "a shock that hurts the whole communion of the Church".

Ten percent of the clergy acquitted

58.4 percent of all victims are reported to be male, 41.6 percent female. Three-quarters of the 362 known ecclesiastical trials against the clergy have already been completed, he said. In the process, one in four priests had been dismissed from the clerical profession. Another 40 percent have been suspended, admonished, or banned from working with minors, according to the bishops' conference.

Ten percent of the clergy have been acquitted, he said. In 42 percent of cases, the minors would have reported the abuse to the church themselves, and in 21 percent their relatives would have reported it. In six percent, the church learned about it from state organs and in five percent of cases from the media.

Film "Clergy

The Polish Bishops' Conference had inquired about the cases of abuse among the dioceses and religious congregations in the past months. The church's statistics institute and the child protection center established by the bishops' conference analyzed data for the study.

In Poland, in the fall of 2018, the motion picture "Clergy" had increased prere on the Church. He denounced child sexual abuse by priests and its cover-up. More than five million viewers made it the most-watched movie in Poland since 2000.

The church apologized to abuse victims several times on public occasions. At a penitential service in 2014, Bishop Piotr Libera said in the name of the Bishops' Conference: "Ashamed and remorseful, we ask for forgiveness"."

The Federal Government Commissioner for Abuse Demands Further Commitment from the Archdiocese of Cologne in the Clarification of Sexualized Violence. Overall, however, he sees the Catholic Church in a "pioneering role".

"The first suspensions are certainly an important step, but now it must become apparent to everyone in Cologne and outside that unjustified institutional protection is a thing of the past," Johannes-Wilhelm Rorig told the Kolnische Rundschau (Saturday). Absolute transparency" is necessary in the independent reappraisal that is now pending. "This involves dealing with those affected with respect and humility."

The Cologne law firm Gercke Wollschlager has well presented the limits of a legal reappraisal, said the Independent Representative for Questions of Sexual Child Abuse. However, it must also be clarified "what is not in the files". Rorig demanded: "The affected people should be taken into consideration, their physical and mental suffering, the rigorous and often heartless treatment of church authorities with the child victims."

Catholic Church in a "pioneering role"

Overall, however, he sees the Catholic Church in a "pioneering role," said the abuse commissioner. It was "important that other institutions do the same". The Protestant Church and Catholic religious orders are on the right track in this regard. There is still much to be done in schools and sports.

Cologne lawyer Bjorn Gercke on Thursday presented a legal opinion examining the diocese's handling of abuse cases between 1975 and 2018. The experts cited numerous breaches of duty and severely incriminated several bishops, including Woelki's late predecessor in office, Cardinal Joachim Meisner, the auxiliary bishop of Cologne, Dominikus Schwaderlapp, and the current archbishop of Hamburg, Stefan Hebe.

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