Bishop fehrs rejects criticism

adminonDecember 2, 2021January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

Hamburg's Protestant Bishop Kirsten Fehrs has rejected accusations that the process of coming to terms with sexualized violence in the Protestant Church in Germany (EKD) is proceeding too slowly. One pursues a different beginning than the catholic church.

The Protestant Church is not lagging behind the Catholic Church, but has a different approach, said the spokeswoman of the EKD Council of Representatives for Protection against Sexualized Violence on Tuesday the portal suddeutsche.de.

"Due to our decentralized structure, we first wanted to standardize all our measures so that they would be binding – and so that each regional church would not have to go its own way," explained Fehrs. The shock that both churches experienced after the cases of abuse became known in 2010 initially caused the Protestant church to intensify prevention.

Rorig had criticized Protestant church

With regard to the criticism levelled at the EKD by the Federal Government Commissioner for Abuse, Johannes-Wilhelm Rorig, Fehrs said: "No one has to drive us on."One was with Rorig in the discussion, but first had to continue the arance of quality standards. "It was very irritating for me to read that this was obviously not sufficient for Mr. Rorig; especially since we are close in terms of the matter at hand."

Rorig had warned that the EKD was too slow in coming to terms with sexual abuse within its own ranks. He urges in particular the establishment of independent Aufarbeitungskommissionen in the 20 regional churches. Rorig had signed a corresponding agreement with the Catholic Church in June.

A joint statement of the EKD with Rorig is currently being worked on, Fehrs explained. Certainly not each of the 20 national churches, some of which are very small, will be able to form its own commission. "So now we look at what makes sense given the already existing independent commissions and the prevention and intervention center."

Measures adopted in November 2018

In November 2018, the EKD synod had passed a package of measures to protect against sexualized violence. As a result, among other things, an interchurch guideline for the protection against violence was ied and a central contact point for victims was installed. In addition, the establishment of a victim advisory board and the start of a comprehensive reappraisal study are planned for this year.

Coptic Christian © KNA

The Coptic Orthodox Church has called on clergy to work to end violence against women in society to do so. The church opposes harmful practices. Concrete examples were given.

"Christianity opposes all forms of violence against women, whether that violence is physical, verbal or moral," according to a report Sunday evening by the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center (Cocc), in a statement ied by Pope Tawadros II on the. signed position paper of the church.

Specifically naming practices

The church opposes any harmful practices that cause or may cause suffering for women or affect their rights and dignity.

Specifically, the church cites practices such as female circumcision, early marriage, forced marriage and deprivation of education, discrimination in inheritance, sexual harassment on the streets, in the workplace and in places of study, rape and sexual exploitation such as underage marriage and trafficking of girls and women.

Principle of the equality of the sexes

The Church supports the biblical principle of equality of the sexes. According to him, every woman has a right to a healthy and safe life. It instructed its clergy, given their influential and credible position in Egyptian society, to contribute to raising awareness and educating society in order to combat all forms of violence.

At the same time, the Church refers in the document to special programs for the social and economic empowerment of women.

The latest hearing of the State Abuse Commission on the handling of child sexual abuse cases by church and secular institutions has started in Sydney. "It is remarkable that so many institutions have failed".

The commission's chairman, Justice Peter McClellan, said at the start of Monday's hearing. The characteristics of the failure were often similar, he said, but there were also individual specifics.

Final report expected in December

In his view, the commission has done its job of informing the state and the public about why so many institutions have failed to prevent child abuse. Both the government and institutions should now focus on compensating victims of abuse and developing protective mechanisms so that no child is sexually abused in the future. The basis for this is to be a final report, which the commission will publish on 15. December is set to publish.

According to McClellan, since the commission began its work in September 2013, it has conducted 57 case studies over 400 public meeting days and heard 1.200 witnesses heard. In 6.500 non-public sessions, affected persons have testified before the commission. In addition, the commission had commissioned 44 scientific studies on various aspects of dealing with abuse.

Filter out risk factors

The final focus of the commission's five-day final hearing will be on the specific risk factors for sexual abuse, the extent of assaults, and the prevention measures in place today. To that end, the commission plans to hear from doctors, psychologists, child protection specialists, forensic scientists and criminal justice experts from Australia, New Zealand, Europe and the United States.

Established the commission in 2013 by the Australian government. In addition to the Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, other Christian denominations as well as other religions have had to testify before the commission on their handling of sexual abuse.

The commission also looked at abuse in sports federations, state hospitals, the Australian army and the entertainment industry.

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