Name perpetrators and cover-ups relentlessly

adminonDecember 23, 2021January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

Name perpetrators and cover-ups relentlessly

Symbol image abuse © Julia Steinbrecht (KNA)

The Diocesan Council of Catholics in the Archdiocese of Berlin asks those affected by sexual abuse in the Church for forgiveness and acknowledges that non-clergy also share responsibility.

"Many recognize, with silence, looking away and omission also guilty to have become. Realizing the extent of this complicity late now "hurts a lot," according to a motion unanimously passed by the highest lay body, the Diocesan Council of Catholics in the Archdiocese of Berlin, at its plenary meeting in Berlin on Saturday.

The motion also calls for a "transparent, unbiased and unsparing reappraisal," a binding crisis and communication management in cases of abuse, and a consistent integrated prevention work. Furthermore, there must be professional support and sufficient assistance for those affected, but also for perpetrators or potential perpetrators.

No independent commission

The Diocesan Council also discussed the commission convened by the archdiocese, which is allowed to read the abuse report published in parts at the end of January in its entirety and make recommendations on consequences. The committee includes three elected representatives each from the Diocesan Council and the Priests' Council. Several members stressed that this was an "internal, but not independent" commission. In addition, some council members spoke out in favor of an independent management of the commission as well as additional participation of affected persons.

Vicar General Manfred Kollig emphasized that if the expert commission advocates also appointing affected persons as members, "that should be possible". He and Archbishop Heiner Koch would support such a request. However, the head of the archdiocese's administration noted that he thought it would make sense if it were someone from outside the archdiocese. It would be conceivable, for example, to appoint a member from the advisory board of the German Bishops' Conference.

Pointing out clear consequences

Johanna Beck, a member of this affected persons advisory board, demanded as a guest speaker that "it be relentlessly named who the perpetrators and cover-ups were". She emphasized that anyone who wants justice to be done for the victims must clearly show that there are consequences and that those responsible will be held accountable.

At the same time, Kollig pointed out that there is no disciplinary law in the Catholic Church and that he considers this problematic. The archdiocese is therefore currently being advised by several external canon lawyers as to which sanction measures are possible at all.

The criteria and standards for independent processing of sexual abuse have been agreed upon. Now it is a matter of implementing it in the dioceses. Much of what has been newly established is already being done in the Archdiocese of Cologne.

Interviewer: On 22. June, Trier Bishop Stephan Ackermann, the abuse commissioner of the Catholic German Bishops' Conference, signed the "Joint Declaration on Binding Criteria and Standards for an Independent Reappraisal of Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church in Germany" with the federal government. A milestone in the fight against abuse, it should be. The document has eight pages, and the dioceses must now implement these criteria and standards, which were developed together with the federal government's abuse commissioner, Johannes Wilhelm Rorig. Does this change anything in your work?

Manuela Rottgen (prevention officer in the Archdiocese of Cologne and spokesperson for the Federal Conference of Prevention Officers): Nothing really changes for me. It is a consistent further development of our work, as we also already in 2011 signed an agreement with the independent commissioner of the federal government, Dr. Johannes Rorig, signed in the matter of prevention. In this respect, I very much welcome the fact that there is now also to be a binding agreement for the independent reappraisal.

Interviewer: What exactly does this prevention concept now provide for?

Rottgen: In the independent reappraisal, it is now a matter of taking another close look in the individual dioceses to see to what extent, in which institutions and services sexualized violence occurred. In addition, what structural conditions favored them and whether personal misconduct was also committed in dealing with the cases of abuse, for example, by personnel managers.

From this investigation, we as prevention commissioners draw insights in order to prevent exactly that. In the future, our personnel officers will be trained to handle cases in such a way that they can react appropriately and professionally and that there can no longer be any cover-ups or failure to listen to the people affected.

Interviewer: How exactly is a child himself trained who comes to an archdiocesan school so that he knows how to behave if he gets into an unpleasant cross-border situation??

Rottgen: First and foremost, students should experience and learn that they will find competent, empathetic, attentive adults in their teachers in whom they can confide. That they can confide if they actually experience an assault by a classmate, a fellow student, a teacher, and that this teacher believes them and gives them help.

Because we know from experience that children have to open up to eight adults until someone believes them and offers help. To make it easier, all teachers are given mandatory training in prevention. This means that what the independent commissioner Johannes Rorig is now calling for – namely to implement prevention measures in all schools in Germany – has already been standard practice at our school for the past ten years. All teachers who work in our 32 archdiocesan schools have undergone in-service training on prevention and receive in-depth training on this topic every five years.

Interviewer: Is there any praise for this?

Rottgen: It is not yet heard as it always is. The positive things are not being presented to the public in the way we might want them to be.

Interviewer: Has their work been affected in these corona times?

Rottgen: Yes, because the prevention trainings usually take place as face-to-face events, where external training speakers, who have been qualified by our Prevention Coordination Office, go to the colleges and work with the teachers on this topic. These face-to-face events have been suspended for quite some time. Now they start slowly again under the hygiene standards. They are smaller groups and in part prevention trainings are also carried out as webinars, online trainings, at the moment.

Interviewer: Will the agreements deter perpetrators from carrying out their acts?

Rottgen: If the conclusions drawn from this investigation are actually implemented and extended certificates of good conduct are obtained across the board in all institutions. This is, for example, a standard that has existed in the Catholic Church for the past ten years. Every volunteer and every full-time employee who works for us must provide an extended certificate of good conduct. That actually deters perpetrators. If, as the Minister of Justice has demanded, the penalties are increased or better utilized – we have good criminal law – I believe that this will have a signal effect on perpetrators.

The interview was conducted by Uta Vorbrodt.

Religious advertising has long existed on public transport. Inscriptions such as "Jesus lives" or advertisements for Christian bookstores are stuck on many buses and trains. An atheistic advertising campaign, which should actually start in March among other things in Cologne, meets however with refusal. Those responsible in the cathedral city fear that it is too provocative and hurtful.

"There is (in all probability) no God. Fulfilled life needs no faith": This and two similar slogans should be written in large letters on buses in Cologne's public transport system these days, based on similar campaigns in London or Barcelona. But the Cologne transport authority (KVB) does not want to deal further with the request of the initiative "buskampagne" at the moment.de" deal. "We do not want this advertising at this time," says KVB spokesman Joachim Berger.The campaign is currently not mediable in Cologne, the city is still in mourning because of the collapse of the city archive, he said. Although there have already been discreet religious advertisements, the decisive factor is content and emphasis. "We would run condom ads, for example, unless we had the pope in town right now," Berger says. "We do not want to cause confrontations in society about certain views and do not want to provoke in such a way."Other cities also against atheist advertising Cologne is not the only city that does not want to switch godless messages. Munich and Berlin have also rejected the advertising campaign. "We regret that, but also do not rely on confrontation," says Philipp Moller, spokesman for buskampagne.DE. "But it also shows that there is a secular imbalance in Germany," says the 28-year-old. The campaign does not understand itself anti-religion, but enlightenment. As long as it is preached in Germany that there is no morality without God, such an advertising statement is relevant.The idea for the campaign originated in London, but was also fueled in Berlin by anger over the "Pro Reli" petition for a referendum and over the Berlin public transport company (BVG), says Moller. A citizens' initiative is fighting there, with the support of the churches, for religious instruction to be chosen in the future as an alternative to ethics instruction as part of a compulsory elective course. On 26. April the citizens of Berlin vote on it in a referendum. At the beginning of the year, BVG allowed the "Pro Reli" initiative to collect signatures for the referendum at Berlin subway stations."There are buses in Berlin advertising the city's biggest high-class brothel, religious stickers can be found everywhere, but an atheist campaign should not be possible?" Moller asks. His campaign is supported by several associations and the Giordano Bruno Foundation. Together with six fellow campaigners, Moller has so far collected over 27.000 euros in donations for the campaign. The goal is to finance three months of ads on buses in Berlin, Munich and Cologne.After the refusals of several cities Moller hopes now for more success in Hamburg, Leipzig, Fulda or Dortmund. "We have to be allowed in Dortmund at the latest," he says. In the city, the transport authorities had accepted a bus belonging to the Catholic Forum with the inscription "Don't worry: There is God. So have a nice day" accepted. However, the Dortmund public transport company waved it off, saying the atheist campaign was not an ie."We had a campaign by the Catholic Forum, but actually we don't advertise with religious statements at all," says Jutta Sprungmann, who works for "bus-und-bahn.de" Dortmund is responsible for transport advertising. The Catholic Forum's bus with the inscription would have made drivers in traffic jams smile, Sprungmann explains. In the case of an atheism campaign, however, one could not be so sure whether people would feel offended and, in case of doubt, even damage buses.Moller and his comrades-in-arms will probably not be able to land in other Ruhr cities like Bochum or Gelsenkirchen either. "There is neither religious nor racist nor sexist advertising with us," clarifies Sandra Bruhns, spokeswoman at the Bochum and Gelsenkirchen streetcar company. "You won't find politicians handing out flyers with us either." Philipp Moller nevertheless does not want to give up. "We'll keep trying until it works in a German city," he says defiantly, and at the same time refers to Plan B: If necessary, the initiative will resort to posters.

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