Not consensual

adminonNovember 5, 2021January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

The "Cornered Table" initiative demands that the Jesuit Order 82.373 Euro compensation for each abuse victim. The aggrieved parties did not want symbolic but actual satisfaction for what had been done to them years ago, said the spokesman for the victims' initiative, Matthias Katsch, on Saturday evening. The meeting with responsible persons of the order could not be ended amicably.

The allegations made against the order triggered the abuse debate in Germany, which has been ongoing since January. The initiative "Eckiger Tisch" represents victims of sexual abuse at the German schools of the Jesuit order. By July, 205 former students from the '70s and '80s had come forward.

Katsch made his comments after a meeting with representatives of the Jesuit order. The amount mentioned is an average of the "pain and suffering awards for damages to the soul" set by courts in recent years, Katsch said. Provincial Stefan Kiechle, the rector of Canisius College Klaus Mertes and the director of the College of Saint Blasien Johannes Siebner had spoken for several hours with victims of abuse. The discussion was moderated by former German Health Minister Andrea Fischer, who presented a special report on the abuse cases in Jesuit institutions in July. The conversation took place in a "very serious atmosphere" and the parties did not part on "good terms," Katsch reported. It is unclear whether there will be another meeting after this second one and the first one in May.

The spokesman for the victims described the sum that Kiechle had named in a newspaper interview on Wednesday as cynical. Kiechle had spoken of a "rather four-digit" amount of compensation. Katsch accused the order of committing a second crime against the victims by covering it up for years.

Money cannot bring back the time they have lost and cannot heal what has been destroyed; many victims have suffered massive and lasting damage to their psychological development. But a clear and for the institutions also painful payment would recognize these sufferings, said the spokesman. Since the Jesuits had declared that they could not raise the sum demanded by the victims on their own, the initiative now wanted to turn to the German Bishops' Conference and press for a discussion during its fall plenary session. This begins on Tuesday in Fulda.

Nuns praying the Angelus © Giuseppe Lami

The church and women – entire books have already been written about it. Ahead of International Women's Day on 8. March, the ie is present in several ways both inside and outside the walls of the Vatican.

Last Thursday, the magazine "Donne, Mondo, Chiesa" ("Women, World, Church") of the Vatican newspaper "Osservatore Romano" made headlines – all the way to the New York Times. The reason for the fuss is an article in which women religious tell how badly they are sometimes treated in the church. In many cases, clerics treat women religious like lowly servants, several sisters complain in the article. Behind this is often the idea that "a priest is everything and a nun is nothing". Clericalism is killing the church," criticizes a woman religious.

Criticism from Pope Francis

One day later, the "Osservatore" documented a preface of the Pope for the book of a Spanish social scientist. In it, Francis criticizes machismo, trafficking in women, violence and sexism even in progressive societies. And in the church, "the servant role to which every Christian is called sometimes slides into servitude for women". This is not the first time Francis has said this. Back in 2013, he used this phrase in an address to the Pontifical Council for the Laity.

The experience of women religious is not new, nor is Francis' criticism. But when critical tones about the discrimination of women are heard from the male bastion of the Vatican, it causes attention – especially when in a few days, on 8. March, which is World Women's Day is coming up.

"As for Pope Francis' stance on women's ies, the verdict is still out," writes Indian feminist and theologian Astrid Lobo Gajiwala on the keyword "women" in a "Pope Francis Lexicon" published Friday by two U.S. journalists. It is not because of sweeping changes for women, but because of his inner attitude, that Lobo considers the Catholic Church leader fundamentally pro-women.

Discrimination against women an ie in "Amoris laetitia"

She cites, among other things, "Amoris laetitia," Francis' teaching letter on marriage and the family. In it, the Pope criticizes the discrimination of women in families and condemns marital rape. An offense still not punishable in her native India, Lobo laments.

But the image of the reforming pope remains contradictory, according to the feminist theologian. On the one hand, Francis advocates a stronger role for women in the church, but on the other hand, keeps them out of important decisions. For example, although 30 women auditors were invited to the 2015 Synod on the Family, they did not have voting rights, due to the legal structure of a synod of bishops.

A similar picture emerges at the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. Starting Tuesday, the Vatican panel of only cardinals and bishops will discuss "women as a pillar of the Church and society in Latin America". After all, additional church and social leaders from the region were invited.

International conference on women's rights

An international conference on women's rights is also causing discussion. For this year's theme of lack of gender justice in large organizations like the Catholic Church, organizer "Voices of Faith" moves to Jesuit order buildings. "Voices of Faith" is an initiative of the Fidel Goetz Foundation that promotes women's rights.

The reason for the change of venue is the refusal of the responsible Vatican authority to accept three planned female speakers. What is said inside the Vatican is always seen from the outside as the position of the pope and the church, Cardinal Kevin Farrell of the Vatican's Ministry for Laity, Family and Life justified the exclusion. Nevertheless, the meeting will be followed closely, he stressed.

The impression remains that women still have a hard time with their concerns in the Vatican. Whether this will change, however, does not depend on the Pope alone. At least Francis, concluded Astrid Lobo Gajiwala, from his "well-meaning patriarchy," "has done more to involve women in the church than any pope before him.".

By Roland Juchem

Compensation figures of up to 80.000 euros for abuse victims in institutions of the Jesuits will not exist. Provincial Father Kiechle SJ rejected corresponding demands of a victim initiative in our site interview back.

It is a criticism with which we have naturally reckoned. Whereas some say the payment is too low, others say it is too high. There are also some victims who do not really want money, but are looking for other ways to reconcile and come to peace.
Through conversations, through other symbols, perhaps also through a therapeutic work. Some don't want money, some want some money and some want a lot of money.
To these demands of 80.000 euros we can not and do not want to accommodate. On the one hand, according to our research, the number is not correct at all. It is said that this is an average number of such compensation payments that have been awarded by the courts. In our opinion, these are normally much lower figures. The second thing is, we don't want to compensate suffering with money, we just want to set a symbol for the guilt that was there, that we recognize it. And such symbols, that is something different than a sum of money that wants to pay off something.
Many victims are already known to us. A small, informal request is sufficient and we will not check it very much, but where it is already known, we will take care of it very quickly and pay it out. This is not a major problem. There are other victims that we are not yet aware of and there we will look at the application a little more closely, whether the information is at all credible and whether it all fits. We must also avoid that a lot of free riders "jump on it" and also want to have money.
First of all, we have taken our responsibility seriously and want to do what we now consider appropriate with this amount and with this approach for us. If other church institutions or even non-church institutions think this is a model, that's fine with us. But that is not our first intention, we first want to do our work for us, so to speak.
This is supposed to be a prevention fund for the whole church and into which many church institutions then pay a contribution, both the dioceses and possibly the religious orders. So it could be that we participate in it. More details have to be discussed.

First we wait. The Bishops' Conference is still discussing this ie with the payments and when the Bishops' Conference itself is further along and also develops a model of how this is to be implemented in concrete terms, then we will get involved and tackle this in concrete terms.

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