“We simply need help there”

adminonDecember 28, 2021January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

Bishop Helmut Dieser © Julia Steinbrecht (KNA)

After the publication of an abuse report for the diocese of Aachen, Bishop Helmut Dieser is working on further clarification. He said his diocese is currently in talks with the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia.

This involves the establishment of an independent processing commission, said this to the "Rheinische Post" (Thursday). "We cannot do this difficult reappraisal alone; we simply need help there, also from independent persons outside the church."In the spring, the public will be informed about the further steps to be taken. Also about the mechanism of a concerning advisory board one considers.

Expert opinion on "undeserved leniency" toward offenders

Last November, the Munich-based law firm Westpfahl Spilker Wastl (WSW) published an abuse report for the Aachen diocese.
It sheds light on how former leaders in the diocese dealt with alleged assaults by clerics. The investigation attests, among other things, to former bishop Heinrich Mussinghoff and his former vicar general Manfred von Holtum's "undeserved leniency" toward priests suspected of abuse, some of whom were also convicted.

The Munich law firm also prepared such an expert opinion for the Archdiocese of Cologne. So far, however, it has not been made public because Cologne Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki considers it flawed and not legally sound. He had a second expert opinion prepared, which will be published next Thursday. Bishop Dieser, on the other hand, expressed satisfaction with WSW. The cooperation had been professional and the confrontation fair.Even after the publication of the report, there had been an "intensive and good exchange" with the chancellery.

Agreement with abuse commissioner

Last June, the German Bishops' Conference was the first institution in Germany to sign an agreement with the Federal Government Commissioner for Abuse, Johannes-Wilhelm Rorig, on dealing with sexual abuse. According to the report, there should be independent processing commissions in all 27 dioceses in the future. Representatives of the diocese, experts from science, professional practice, justice and public administration as well as affected persons are to sit on it.

Cardinal pell celebrates first public mass in rome

Pope Francis and George Pell © Vatican Media/Romano Siciliani (KNA)

Australian Cardinal George Pell celebrated Mass in Rome publicly again for the first time on Saturday, according to media reports. In April, he had been acquitted of charges of sexual abuse due to insufficient evidence.

As the magazine "America" (online edition) reported, Pell celebrated the service in the church of the "Domus Australia," a hotel built at his suggestion for Australian pilgrims in Rome. The occasion was the tenth anniversary of the canonization of Mary MacKillop. Australian religious (1842-1909) is the first saint of the fifth continent.

Service with invited guests only

Invited to the service, which according to "America" was attended only by invited guests, was also Australia's new ambassador to the Holy See, Chiara Porro. At no point in the service had Pell referred to the events of the past three years.

Among those attending the service was Australia's former prime minister, Tony Abbott, who is considered a friend of Pell's but was in Rome for other reasons. In addition, the U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See, Callista Gingrich, and her husband Newt were present.

Return after court proceedings

Pell had been sentenced to 30 years in prison. September returned to Rome. Pope Francis received him in a private audience on Monday. In July 2017, Pell, the former head of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy, had left the Vatican to face a trial for sexual abuse in his home country.

After initially being convicted in two instances and spending some 400 days in prison, he was acquitted in early April by Australia's Supreme Court for insufficient evidence.

In three weeks, the Dutch will elect a new parliament. In The Hague, the country's third-largest city, the mayor has now decided: church premises are no longer permitted as polling places. The churches react with incomprehension.

The Hague, the seat of government and parliament, will also be celebrating the 12th anniversary of its founding. September, a Wednesday, voted. But unlike previous votes, voting in churches is no longer possible. The mayor of The Hague has in fact ordered that church and ideologically oriented premises – with one exception – be removed from the list of polling stations for the parliamentary election.

According to a spokesman of the city, this concerns 21 buildings. The list shows a total of 230 places where voting can take place: Most are schools, sports centers, community centers, neighborhood meeting places and libraries, but there are also hotels, department stores, supermarkets, even the central station and a beach pavilion on the list.

Mayor Jozias van Aartsen of the right-wing liberal party VVD deviates with this directive from the widespread practice in other municipalities and cities in the Netherlands. In Rotterdam, Utrecht and Maastricht, voting is still possible in church buildings between 7:30 a.m. and 9 p.m. Even in largely secular Amsterdam, churches serve on 12. September church rooms as polling stations. Voters can cast their ballots at the Salvation Army headquarters, for example, but also in some Protestant churches and Roman Catholic churches, as well as in converted sacred buildings.

Eduard Windhorst, sexton of the Noorderkerk, finds this quite natural. For rooms of the in the 17. The church, which was built in the 16th century, is rented out for a wide variety of occasions and events. Amsterdamers can also vote at the Krasnpolsky Hotel and the legendary Melkweg cultural temple. The Association of Dutch Municipalities considers The Hague's action to be an isolated case.

Surprised churches
The churches in The Hague react with incomprehension to the mayor's directive, about which municipal employees informed the sextons. The decision of the head of the city to remove churches from the list of polling stations came as a great surprise to him, says IJjo Akkerman, chairman of the church council of the Protestant congregation of The Hague, on the Internet portal "kerkenindenhaag.nl". The mayor demonstrates that he is out of touch with an important part of society.

Akkermann points out that the churches make an essential contribution to coexistence, both in terms of values and social cohesion. Previous mayors were still well aware that there was a soul in a society and a district, the church council president says.

Not only church people see behind the Hague initiative, from which only the evangelically oriented chapel "The Good Shepherd" is excluded, efforts for a strict divorce of state and church. He was tired of the continuing attack on religion, the Reformed theologian Maarten Wisse wrote in his appeal to the "despisers of religion", which was published in the influential daily newspaper "NRC Handelsblad". Rising health costs, extremism and fragile social cohesion can be better managed if politics leaves more room for religion. When it comes to the rebuilding of city quarters, people only think about "bread and games" and no longer consider including a church or a mosque in the plans.

Wisse, who also teaches at the University of Tubingen, accuses politicians of trying to combat extremist tendencies by confining religious communities to the private sphere. Thereby since the 16. It has been proven in the twentieth century: Religion promoted by the state is "moderate religion". And the daily newspaper "Trouw" went one step further. She feels that the mayor's decision reminds her of the hostility to religion in the former GDR.

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