“The women were not helped”

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The CDU/CSU and FDP are currently discussing the course of their future government. The topic of prostitution does not seem to play a role – but it urgently needs to be on the agenda, demands Sister Lea Ackermann. In the this site interview, the SOLWODI founder talks about past political failures and the consequences, such as flat-rate brothels. "Women are reified here."

this site: Recently, flat-rate brothels have been making headlines…
Ackermann: It is so outrageous that I can hardly find words. In a brothel, food and drink are offered as much as you can – and women as many as you want to have. And one can do with them, which wants man. During the day for 70 Euro, in the evening for 100 Euro. It's so outrageous because women are being reified just like food and drink. And there is no more respect at all for this person who has to be of service here, as. This is a crime against humanity. These flat-rate brothels show once again how women are objectified.
this site: They want something to be changed by law. What does the law say right now?
Ackermann: In 2002, it was thought that a law had been created that would help the women, and that it would also help that the victims of human trafficking – that is, the women who are forced into this trade – could be let out more easily. This law has brought nothing, on the contrary. It has only brought advantages for brothel owners, pimps and traffickers and smugglers, who could now switch to "wellness brothels", to more elegantly run brothels, etc. But the women were really not helped.
this site: How the law must change now?
Ackermann: Trafficking in women and children is a crime of unimagined proportions. And it is hardly noticed and hardly fought against. The Swedes, for example, say we can only get closer to this if we ban the demand for prostitution. D.h. The johns have to think about their relationship to the opposite sex. Now, of course, you can't get everything under control with a ban – I know that, too. We have tried it differently in Germany, we have legalized everything. We have said that prostitution is a profession like any other. But it is not. If there are really women who say, I do this completely voluntarily, I have chosen this way, then one should not be able to bully these women in any way and profit from them. No third party should be able to benefit, we demand. Listen to the conversation in full hereTo the pers Lea Ackermann, since 1960 member of the order of the "White Sisters" in Trier, had founded "Solwodi" ("Solidarity with women in distress") in 1985 in Kenya as an exit project for women and girls from slum prostitution. Since 1988, the organization, based in Boppard, with 42 permanently employed women in twelve counseling centers and seven shelters, has also been active in Germany.

Cardinals Marx and Muller, the most powerful German churchmen, seem at odds on the ie of remarried divorcees. The ecclesiastical lawyer Prof. Klaus Ludicke tries to soften the fronts in the interview.

Interviewer: Can you explain again exactly why remarried divorcees are no longer allowed to receive sacraments under church law?

Prof. Ludicke: The basic line of march on this ie has long been defined in such a way that the first statement is dogmatic: marriage is indissoluble. If someone remarries in a civil ceremony, the state in which they then live is not an ecclesiastically valid marriage. The second premise is that anyone who enters into such a relationship is living in permanent adultery. The third premise is that this is a grave sin, a mortal sin that precludes receiving communion unless the person repents and confesses.

But now there is always a call for mercy. They also like to refer to Jesus and the parable of the adulteress. A possibility of conversion is called for. Or laments that a murderer can go back to Communion after confession, but the remarried cannot.

Interviewer: Is there then a chance to solve the dilemma?

Prof. Ludicke: The indissolubility of marriage is a dogmatic requirement that cannot and will not be shaken and that Cardinal Marx will not shake either. In the end, the question is not whether people can ecclesiastically remarry after divorce, that is the responsibility of the ecclesiastical marriage courts, but whether or not, if they then live in a second civil marriage, they are really living in mortal sin. This has been seen by default so far, and there is obviously movement coming into play, because in many other areas, too, such as the evaluation of homosexuality, premarital cohabitation or non-marital cohabitation, and the situation of single parents, the church is apparently now prepared to think in a more differentiated way and to appreciate these life situations in a more differentiated way.

Interviewer: Against this background, how do you evaluate Cardinal Muller's statement that God's word cannot be invalidated by human action, and Cardinal Marx's statement that he has just given hope to remarried divorcees??

Prof. Ludicke: The two cardinals Marx and Muller probably speak of different things without agreeing that they do so. On the one hand, there is adherence to the indissolubility of marriage as a dogmatic requirement. This is the key point of Cardinal Muller's statements, which Cardinal Marx does not dispute. On the other hand, there is the question of the moral quality of living together after such a divorce. There is a link between these two elements, which was already mentioned in the letter "Familiaris Consortio" by John Paul II. If one were to admit remarried divorcees to the sacraments, this would cause confusion among the faithful about the indissolubility of marriage and give the impression that it is permissible to do so. This is, of course, a vague thesis. In my decades of experience with ecclesiastical marriage annulment processes, I have not experienced anyone who has divorced because they believed that they could then marry again ecclesiastically. And also no one who has remained with his partner only to continue receiving communion. This link, the confusion among the faithful, must be addressed in a different way than by preventing the faithful from receiving communion.

Interviewer: Pope Francis has shown that he wants to respond to the current concerns and needs of families with his Synod on the Family in the fall in the Vatican and with the questionnaire that he sent to parishes worldwide. Is it likely that Pope Francis will also focus on the problem of remarried divorcees in the process?

Prof. Ludicke: At the two Synods of Bishops in 2014 and 2015, the topic of marriage and family will play a central role, and also this topic. But I can't imagine that the Pope will now rush ahead without seeking the consensus of the universal Church and really asking the opinion of the bishops in a synod. But there is a tendency for him to speak of mercy and conversion, of the church's ability to reach out to people instead of turning them away. So, the trend is to find a solution here that puts an end to this moral condemnation as it has been standard so far.

The interview was conducted by Christian Schlegel.

Reforms in the Catholic Church's handling of sexual abuse by priests demanded by pastoral theologian emeritus Hanspeter Heinz. The guidelines ied by the German Bishops' Conference in 2002 have brought improvements, but they are not enough, he said in an interview on Wednesday.

Professor Heinz, what impact do the cases of sexual abuse that have now become known have on the Catholic Church in Germany?
Heinz: Even if these cases often happened decades ago, they massively question the credibility of the church. And losing trust is the worst thing that can happen to a company or institution. All ministers and employees are suddenly under suspicion.
CBA: Why have dioceses and religious orders in the past covered up so much and punished such cases so little?
Heinz: Because the church cared more about its own reputation than the fate of the victims. Already since the 80's there are findings, how strongly sexual abuse burdens the victims – often even for the whole life. And yet the church was more sensitive to its own image.
CBA: Against this background, how do you judge the actions of Father Mertes, who made the cases at the Canisius College in Berlin public??
Heinz: Father Mertes does it in a very excellent way. We should have had men like him a long time ago. When dealing with such cases, it is not only important to apologize and help the victims. It must also be about the Catholic Church dealing with its guilt, naming the perpetrators and the concealers, and exposing the structures that make such things possible.
CBA: Why is this so important?
Heinz: The truth is very important, because unresolved guilt weighs on lives for generations. In this context, the Ecumenical Kirchentag in Munich stands out negatively to me. There should be an event on this topic there, together with representatives from Ireland, where numerous church abuse cases in children's homes have come to light. The church congress management rejected this offer and instead entrusted Caritas and Diakonie with its implementation. But they are biased, because they themselves are responsible bodies for many children's and youth homes. That's why they are not the right organizers for such a forum.
CBA: In 2002, the German Bishops' Conference adopted guidelines for dealing with sexual abuse. Has the practice improved since then?
Heinz: There are clear improvements, but also still many shortcomings. For example, all dioceses have appointed contact persons to whom victims can turn. The idea, however, was to commission independent experts to reduce the threshold fear of the victims. However, in almost half of the dioceses, de facto church officials have been named. But they are not independent enough to take away the fear of the victims. That is not enough.
CBA: The shunting yard is also conspicuous: one has simply sent offenders to other tasks, parishes or dioceses, without informing the new offices about incidents. Has this improved?
Heinz: It was irresponsible to use such people in a similar field of work and again give them the opportunity to abuse children and young people. And that, although it is well known that such sexual imprints are usually no longer correctable. At most, one can learn to deal with it and no longer actively act it out. In my estimation, the church now handles such cases much more cautiously. Whether this happens everywhere and in every case, however, I cannot survey.
CBA: Father Mertes has stated that structural problems in the Catholic Church also encourage sexual abuse, including a one-sided condemnation of homosexuality. Do you see it that way too?
Heinz: I see it similarly. In recent years, the Vatican and many officials have denigrated homosexuality as a disease and blamed it for the tendency to sexually abuse children. This does not correspond in any way to modern scientific knowledge; some current Vatican documents do not betray a hint of it.
CBA: So homosexuality is not the real problem…
Heinz: People use homophobia as a distraction from the real problems: The cause of sexual abuse is a lack of psycho-sexual maturity, an inadequate confrontation with one's own sexuality. And this can happen with homosexuals just as it does with heterosexuals.
CBA: Does celibacy favor such practices??
Heinz: The celibate lifestyle attracts such people who have not sufficiently come to terms with their sexuality or who want to hide their sexual orientation. These people mistakenly think that as celibates they don't have to account for their proclivities. And they do not have to justify to the outside world why they are not in a partnership.
CBA: What does this mean for priestly formation??
Heinz: That means more psychologists and therapists need to be present in seminaries to recognize such problems. Spiritual accompaniment is not enough. There is a lot of catching up to do.
CBA: Doesn't this also mean that celibacy should be abolished?
Heinz: Celibacy is a reasonable way of life, if one actively accepts it and not just accepts it. Of course, this is especially true for religious. Something else is whether compulsory celibacy for secular priests is still appropriate in today's situation of pastoral care. I consider him a pastoral disaster, because the number of priests in all Western countries has been declining sharply for decades, which means that the Eucharist can be celebrated in parishes less and less often. Because enabling the celebration of the Eucharist is far more important than the Church's tradition of compulsory celibacy. Interview: Christoph Arens

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