Too much “undeserved leniency” applied

adminonNovember 30, 2021January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

After publication of the abuse report for the Aachen diocese, Bishop Helmut Dieser called on his predecessor to make a "sign of repentance". In addition, he asked to refrain from taking legal action against the report.

Former Bishop Heinrich Mussinghoff (80) and also his former vicar general Manfred von Holtum (76) should begin a "personal process of self-reflection" about their handling of abuse cases, Dieser said Monday in a video press conference. He appealed to former diocesan leaders to refrain from legal action against the assessment and to take the perspective of the victims.

"Undeserved leniency" toward suspects and convicts

The expert opinion of the Munich law firm Westpfahl Spilker Wastl (WSW), presented on Thursday, attests to Mussinghoff, von Holtum and already deceased former responsible persons to have been oriented to the protection of the perpetrators and not to the care for the victims. Mussinghoff and von Holtum had shown an "undeserved leniency" towards suspected and convicted clergymen and had often reinstated them in pastoral care.

Before the presentation of the Aachen report, the two clergymen had pointed out that it should not be published for reasons of personal protection. Mussinghoff's lawyer rejected the "sweeping accusation" that he did not care about the victims in his statement for the expert report. If the 2010 Bishops' Conference guidelines for abuse cases had been in place before, there would have been a different way of dealing with victims. Mussinghoff led the diocese from 1995 to 2015.

According to this one, it is not about devaluing the life achievement of Mussinghoff or von Holtum. In view of the abuse cases, they should acknowledge their responsibility "in the systemic whole". This would be "painful", but could help victims, whose perspective is now at stake. The latter had met Mussinghoff on Saturday according to his own statements.

Establish independent commission

The latter called the expert opinion, which is supposed to clarify cover-ups of decision-makers in the period from 1965 to 2019, only a "first step in coming to terms with the situation". He announced the establishment of an independent commission to deal with the abuse cases with experts from science and the judiciary, among others. This would also correspond to the agreement between the German Bishops' Conference and the Federal Government Commissioner for Abuse. He also wants to encourage those affected to form an advisory board that will work with the diocese in coming to terms with the situation.

According to Dieser, the payments to the victims for the recognition of suffering are not made from church tax funds. The money should come from a pot into which bishops, priests and other voluntary donors pay. Those particularly responsible should pay an "appropriate fine," said Vicar General Andreas Frick.

Human resources director Margherita Onorato-Simonis says employees with allegations of sexual violence were previously sent away by officials and sworn to silence. Today, every suspicious case is investigated, she ared. She also announced that record keeping would be brought up to modern standards. The experts had found incomplete and sanitized documents.

Klaus Mertes SJ © Markus Nowak (KNA)

The interim report on the Regensburg abuse cases shows that there were significantly more assaults than previously amed. Jesuit Father Klaus Mertes is not surprised by this development, as he told our site explained.

Interviewer: At the time, you publicized cases of abuse at the Canisius College in Berlin, of which you were rector at the time – and thus became a pioneer of clarification. In 2010, you virtually initiated the reappraisal of sexual abuse at Catholic institutions. Are you surprised that once again 5 years later such abysses are opening up – in such a renowned Catholic educational institution?

Father Mertes: I am not surprised. We ourselves have made the experience, also for example in America, that there is a wave of clarification, which then drags on for years. This is due to the fact that first of all the victims have to bring themselves to speak out. For her, this is a difficult and serious decision. But her decision is decisive for the enlightenment.

Interviewer: One can certainly get the impression that the Catholic Church is still struggling to come to terms with these crimes against children and young people. Why?
Father Mertes: Because the moment I learn that there have been such crimes in my school, in my parish, in my diocese – and I'm not just talking about bishops now, but believers in general – of course it's an incredible pain. This pain calls into question the entire self-image of the institution and manifests itself first of all in a defensive attitude toward the victims. What the victims have to say is not what they want to hear. At the same time, it is a clarification, if one takes it seriously, always connected with the decision to believe the victims. And that is also a serious decision. Because if you believe the victims, this has direct consequences for your self-image.
Interviewer: Georg Ratzinger, the longtime director of the boys' choir, must have known about the abuse cases. This is what special investigator Ulrich Weber said – which of course shocked many people. How can it be that a man of the church, who is certainly a man of integrity, remains silent for so long about such outrageous events??
Father Mertes: I know the same phenomenon also from us Jesuits at the Canisius College in Berlin. At that time we had one perpetrator and suspected a hundred victims or more. And there, too, we had to ask ourselves: How can it be that people of integrity knew and kept quiet about it?? I explain this by saying that the people concerned somehow felt the enormity of the event in its consequences and did not want to let the pain of this information get to them. One cannot listen to victim reports without the willingness to change oneself. That is the crucial point.
Interviewer: But today we are five years ahead – in 2010 there was a whole wave of abuse cases that came to light. And, of course, those responsible today know that they are harming their church by using delaying tactics, for example, in the clarification process.
Father Mertes: That is right. And I also think that those responsible must draw their consequences from this. This constant apologizing after the fact is not enough, it is outrageous!
our siteWhat would be the most important consequences?

Father Mertes: The first decisive consequence is to take responsibility for what one has done or omitted to do; to face up to the conversation with the victims and to stop constantly looking for scapegoats, to rail against people who have fouled one's nest or the press or others – but rather to really take responsibility now, also for one's own cover-up. In my opinion, this can lead to resignations. I'm not calling for resignations here, but I don't understand how it's possible to get out of a story like this scot-free, after having allowed such a run-up of cover-ups – of not listening and of listening away. I don't want to judge this in moral terms, but it is essentially a matter of finally taking real responsibility. In Regensburg, the process has not only been underway since 2010, but since 2002, when the first incidents in the diocese became known.

Interviewer: In 2010, the then Bishop of Regensburg, Gerhard Ludwig Muller, considered the cases to be "isolated incidents" and spoke of a "media campaign" – this is now different under his successor Rudolf Voderholzer. The interim report also bears witness to this. What do you say – better late than never?
Father Mertes: Better late than never, of course! But now, of course, part of the clarification is not only the clarification of the abuse, but also the clarification of the cover-up and then the clarification of the cover-up of the cover-up of the abuse.
Interviewer: Attorney Ulrich Weber has now convened a board of trustees that is supposed to come to terms with the crimes – with representatives of the victims, with representatives of the board of the Domspatzen foundation, with the bishop, the vicar general and mediators. In your eyes a sensible step?
Father Mertes: Surely this is a sensible step. I can't judge how it is put together in detail, because I don't have any knowledge about the concrete events. But it is good that there must be a reappraisal here, and that this is done above all – and this is decisive – independently. This is now obviously given in Regensburg with the person of Ulrich Weber. This is crucial for the credibility of the whole process.
Interviewer: What do you wish the victims of Regensburg?
Father Mertes: That they find faith with their stories and that in the recognition there is not only the recognition of suffering but also of the truth of their stories.

The interview was conducted by Hilde Regeniter

The report about the abuse at the Domspatzen was almost unanimously reacted with horror. Wolfgang Beck explains on our site interview, what went wrong and why the scandals are an opportunity for the church.

Interviewer: Those were clear words that you chose on Saturday. You are a priest yourself. Were you surprised by the shocking extent of the abuse and mistreatment of your colleagues??

Father Wolfgang Beck (Professor of Pastoral Theology at the Catholic University in Sankt Georgen): No, you also have to say that as a Catholic Christian you have become accustomed to a lot in recent years. The process of coming to terms with the past in Regensburg has been going on for a number of years, so it was clear that the report would certainly contain a lot of things that would cause another shock. But then what is also important are two different levels: One is the processing that must be done and that the victims are taken care of. The bishop of Regensburg reacted quite well with a pastoral word on Sunday. The second level is then to say that we have had similar situations over and over again in recent years where things have come to light. And we have to ask ourselves what structures exist in the Catholic Church that are also responsible for the fact that perpetrators are obviously attracted here, or at least that an ideal field has been created for their deeds. I think there are structural components that have not yet been sufficiently illuminated.

Interviewer: So it is the structures of clerical power and intransparency that have made this level of abuse possible. Do these structures still exist?? After all, the events in Regensburg happened 25 years ago.

Beck: Yes, I would argue that it still exists. Of course, much has changed in the past 25 years, and it would be strange if it didn't. There has been great progress in both violence and abuse prevention work. You have to appreciate that in a positive way. But the structural processes that exist within the Catholic Church have not changed much. There is still a very great lack of transparency, a great clericalism, which also largely eludes any control, or at least only allows it to the extent that it is indispensable. The Catholic Church is a bit driven by what is happening in public discourse. I think that the church needs to be kept on its toes, or to be kept on its toes by a public that clearly says: We simply don't accept some things. And this is not one of the areas in which the church can say: we'll just handle it differently and according to our own taste. But there is a social and public interest in some topics being dealt with in the church.

Interviewer: In particular, you also warn against putting things into perspective now. You warn against representatives of the church now saying that corporal punishment was just common practice back then. And the sexual abuse, that were only individual cases. You don't consider such voices, which there are now, to be inappropriate, but even dangerous – why?

Beck: Because of course they are strategically oriented and try everything to avoid this second level, this rather deeper level of dealing with church structures. So it is an appeasement, which reduces the problem to the individual case, to an acting with the victims. This is all right and good, but it must not lead to a situation where the actual reforms are not tackled. I would quickly want to identify this strategy of weakening in some statements.

Interviewer: You also say that the abuse scandals can be an opportunity for the Catholic Church. What is this opportunity?

Beck: The opportunity would be to address honestly and transparently some fields of one's own structures where one has to say: This is a field in which we are simply pre-modern. We are not yet set up in a way that is standard in our modern society and should be taken for granted."For example, with regard to questions of co-determination, transparency and decision-making processes, and the separation of powers. We still have a monarchical system in the way bishoprics are understood in the Catholic Church. Many people are not aware of this. But whoever is a Catholic bishop in our country is at the same time a legislator and thus also very largely removed from any neutral control. There are, of course, approaches that have emerged in recent years. But these are also only beginnings. It has to be said: The Catholic Church has not yet arrived in the modern age, and it needs a little help to get up to speed.

Interviewer: Did you receive any reactions to your clear words in the Word for Sunday?. Everyone must not have liked what you said and denounced there?

Beck: So, for the most part, the reactions were positive and encouraging. For the most part, I got the feedback that said "All respect, this is what we've been waiting for, that this is being addressed so honestly." In these positive and encouraging e-mails, however, it then also often comes up that things will not be easy for me and that I would face headwinds. These are fears that are certainly not born out of thin air. There I will have to dress perhaps warmly.
Interviewer: That's not when a bishop calls up and says, "Wait a minute. What are you criticizing the clerical power for – that is not so true! Stop fouling your own nest like that?"

Beck: So far, two dioceses have shared the Word for Sunday on their Facebook presence, and one bishop has shared it as well. So it's encouraging that there doesn't seem to be a lot of horror about this. I am curious to see what the further reactions will be. But I would also guess that they are more likely to try to sit this one out and keep quiet, in the hope that Wolfgang Beck, as the spokesman for the "Wort zum Sonntag" (Word on Sunday), will once again devote himself to other topics.

The interview was conducted by Hilde Regeniter.

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