Church must remain “strong voice

adminonDecember 17, 2021January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

According to Rhineland-Palatinate's Minister President Malu Dreyer, the topic of sexual abuse must be dealt with as a matter of urgency in German dioceses. Trust must be regained, he said, to continue to provide guidance.

Rhineland-Palatinate Prime Minister Malu Dreyer (SPD) said Tuesday evening in Mainz that this should be the case “in all dioceses,” Dreyer said at the Martin Reception of the Catholic Office in Mainz. The “perspective of the victims” must come first, he said.

Maintaining a strong voice in society

Dreyer expressed “great shock” at results of abuse study presented in September. There is now a need for “a real change of mentality within the church in order to regain trust. The Catholic Church needs this trust in order to “remain a strong voice in society,” especially in a “time of disorientation.”.

Bishop Peter Kohlgraf of Mainz believes internal church reforms are inevitable. This and a critical self-reflection are "bitterly necessary" to regain lost trust and damaged credibility, he said. He did not give any concrete examples of reforms.

"Eyes opened"

The German Bishops' Conference's abuse commissioner, Trier Bishop Stephan Ackermann, said the study presented in September had "opened the eyes" of the bishops about "systemic factors" of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. In order to investigate this, the Bishops' Conference has undertaken "a thick work program", which is now being consistently worked through. Referring to prosecutors, Ackermann promised "full cooperation". (CBA)

Labeling obligation for smoker is overwhelmed!

To forbid! To forbid! To forbid! Yes, we all have been banned for banned for weeks. Of course we are for an immediate ban on gluing bulbs and heatable toilet goggles. A Dieter-Bohlen ban was also good for us. And that advancing to supermarket funds prohibited, goes by itself.

But sometimes the bans just do not go far enough. Example: Smoking. So instead, as planned in Lower Saxony, to mark smoker pubs with a R like smoking, you would rather mark the smokers with it. This could be so embarrassing for them in the health-correct non-smoking public, that they finally stop. Or one follows the bold, but from absolutely sophisticated reasons unfortunately again stopped plan of a vocational school for nurse in the Belgian Oostende. There should be the Schuler in the breaks smoking, but only if you wear a recording with a smoking in your clothes. And they have deserved, the other with their dangerous smoking, such mails anyway already long.

The smoking ban on driving is somehow not far enough. Forbidden, by name, the drink during the ride. If some coffee platters on the leg dress of the driver, this is headed out in dangerous. Similarly, it looks with the food in the car. Also banned a few passeners, because the driver uses them and then no longer concentrated ride. Children in the car must also be banned, they also direct them from shouting, prefabricated remarks or pathogenes such as: "Dad, I have to go to the toilet!"

Forbidden the radiohoren in the car, because the music is often so goodful that the driver reacts to it aggressively. For the same reason, any song of passengers in the car must be banned. And, of course, briefly drowned women are not looking for the strain because they distract a lot of road users too much too much. As you can see, there is still a lot to ban with us. Let’s put it on! And then we finally come back to more important things.

Bishop Voderholzer © CBA

Another body of talks has been set up to deal with the beating and abuse cases at the Regensburg Cathedral Boys' Choir. The round is apparently intended to develop proposals to avoid such incidents in the future.

The panel includes three victims' representatives and Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer, among others, the diocese announced on its website Tuesday evening. A larger board of trustees to investigate the allegations had met for the first time in early February. It is directed by the lawyer Ulrich Weber, who is entrusted by the diocese with an investigation.

Hundreds of cases of physical and sexual violence occurred at the world-famous choir between 1953 and 1992. Weber puts the number of known cases of beating and abuse at 231, and of sexual abuse at 62. According to him, the number of unreported cases is much higher. In an interim report a few weeks ago, the lawyer spoke of a "system of fear" that had prevailed for decades in the preschool as well as in the Domspatzen boarding school.

First meeting "constructive and trusting"

The committee, which has now been established, has set itself the goal of further "processing," the diocese announced. It also includes cathedral conductor Roland Buchner, the director of the Domspatzen boarding school, Rainer Schinko, and mediators Andreas Heintz and Horst Bohm. According to their statements, representatives of the victims are Michael Sieber, Peter Muller and Peter Schmitt. The first meeting was constructive and took place in a "climate of trusting cooperation," according to the statement.

On Tuesday evening, the website of the victims' representatives said about the distribution of tasks of the appointed committees: "While attorney Weber exclusively takes care of the clarification (among other things, talks with abuse victims, differentiated statistics about the number of victims and acts), the processing of the abuse cases is in the hands of the processing committee, which elaborates concrete measures."

The accusations raised by ex-domestic soldiers range from beatings, psychological violence, deprivation of food or force-feeding to sexual assaults ranging from "fondling" to rape. In the past few weeks alone, several dozen other possible victims have come forward. The victims known so far received as a "symbolic recognition of the suffering" each 2.500 euros. In addition, the costs for therapies are covered.

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