“Gercke report” is translated

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The "Independent Investigation into the Handling of Sexualized Violence in the Archdiocese of Cologne" meets with a high international response. In the USA, for example, the New York Times and the Washington Post reported on the Gercke report.

The publication of the independent investigation also attracted widespread interest from renowned media in other countries, such as the United Kingdom and Ireland (a.a. Independent, Daily Maily, Irish Times), France (u.a. Le Figaro, La Croix, Liberation, Le Parisien), Italy (u.a. La Repubblica, La Stampa, Corriere della Sera), Canada (National Post), Spain (u.a. El PaIs, El Mundo, ABC, Público).

In addition to international Catholic media such as Vatican News and Catholic World Report, individual newspapers in South America, Asia and Africa also reported.

Report to be translated

The "Gercke report" is noticed far beyond the borders of Germany and Europe. The law firm Gercke Wollschlager itself received several inquiries from affected persons and affected persons' organizations from other countries (Brazil, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Slovakia).

For this reason, Rainer Maria Cardinal Woelki decided to have the report translated: "Sexualized violence and its cover-up is a crime that does not only happen here in Germany. Clarification and reappraisal have a high priority for the Church in Germany, but also worldwide, even if the German dioceses and the various countries are at different stages here. If with our Cologne report we can contribute a little bit to the progress of the church, then I am very happy about that."

Cologne criminal law experts Prof. Dr. Bjorn Gercke and Dr. Kerstin Stirner had on 18. The study, commissioned by the Archbishop of Cologne, was presented at a press conference on March 2021. On 23. March, Rainer Maria Cardinal Woelki and his vicar general, Dr. Markus Hofmann announced the first concrete consequences and measures that will take place in the Archdiocese of Cologne on the basis of the study.

Establishment of an independent investigation commission

These consequences include, for example, the establishment of an independent processing commission in accordance with the agreement of the German Bishops' Conference with the Independent Commissioner for Questions of Sexual Child Abuse of the Federal Government, Johannes Wilhelm Rorig.

Other reforms include improved record keeping, strengthening of intervention in terms of personnel and organization, evaluation and further development of prevention, regular monitoring of accused clergy and laity, and changes in priestly training. Likewise, additional funds should be made available for increased recognition services for those affected by the crime.

Teachers at Berlin's Canisius College sexually abused students on a large scale in the 1970s and '80s. The current rector of the Jesuit high school, Father Klaus Mertes, therefore addressed a letter to about 600 students of the affected grades. The Catholic News Agency (KNA) documents the letter published on Thursday essentially unabridged.

"Dear former students, In recent years, several of you have contacted me to acknowledge that you were victims of sexual abuse by individual Jesuits at Canisius College. The trail of abuse stretches through the 1970s and into the 1980s. It is with deep shock and shame that I have taken note of these appalling, not only isolated, but systematic attacks that have lasted for years. It is also part of the experience of the victims that in the Canisius College and in the Order there was a looking away by those who actually would have had a duty to protect the victims concerned. For this reason alone, the abuses concern not only the perpetrators and victims, but the entire college, both the school and the associational youth work. For the same reason, I hereby first apologize on behalf of the College to all affected former Canisians for what was done to them at the College. In talking to some of the victims, I have come to understand better the deep wounds that sexual abuse leaves in the lives of young people, and how a person's whole biography can be darkened and damaged for decades as a result of it. At the same time, I heard from the victims how liberating it is to begin to talk about their experiences, even if they happened a long time ago. There are wounds that time does not heal. On behalf of the college, I would like to point out that in 2007 the order established a commissioner's office to which victims of abuse by Jesuits and employees of Jesuit institutions can turn: Ms. Ursula Raue, attorney and mediator, (…) was for many years president of the German section of "Innocence in Danger," an international organization dedicated to combating child abuse on the Internet. She is the contact person not only for possible current suspicions and reports of victims. She is also the point of contact for victims of abuse from longer ago if they wish to reestablish contact with the Order or with the College. She is authorized and obligated to approach the order with victims and mediate. She cooperates in the confrontation of the perpetrators. Any information it receives will be shared with others only with the explicit consent of the victims. I respect, of course, when those affected have made the decision for themselves to break with the college, with the order, and with the Catholic Church as a result of their experiences. On the other hand, I do not want to omit the signal to those who seek contact with the College and the Order that we are approachable. In doing so, Ms. Raue is an opportunity for address. You may, of course, contact any other person you trust who has dealings with the Order and the College. Within the Jesuit Order in Germany P. Provincial informed some time ago that there have been undoubted cases of abuse of young people of both sexes by individual Jesuits in the past. This information has caused great consternation among the confreres. In addition to feeling shame and shock at the magnitude of the abuse in each case and in the accumulation – visible so far – we, on the part of the College, must ask ourselves how we can avoid becoming complicit again today by looking the other way. Looking away often already happens in the moment when one decides not to want to know, although one feels that one should actually look more closely. This is a challenge to the personal moral courage of each individual as well as to the scrutiny of structures. At the same time, the question arises as to which structures at schools, in the youth work of associations and also in the Catholic Church are conducive to abuses happening and de facto being covered up. Here we encounter problems such as lack of complaint structures, lack of protection of trust, encroaching pedagogy, encroaching pastoral care, inability to self-criticism, taboos and obsessions in church sexual pedagogy, inappropriate handling of power, dependency relationships. We have been working on these ies in recent years, both in the Order and at the College, and will continue to do so. In this sense, I thank the victims who, by their courage to speak out, also do a service to the College and the Order by raising these ies. On the part of the College, I would like to contribute through this letter to breaking the silence, so that the individuals and cohorts affected can speak to each other. In deep shock and shame, I repeat at the same time my apology to all victims of abuse by Jesuits at Canisius College."

On Wednesday at noon, Chancellor Angela Merkel was a guest of the Cardinal Hoffner Circle of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Kaisersaal of the Parliamentary Society. In October 2003, she visited the association, founded in 1993 by Catholic members of parliament, for the first time; now she is once again answering questions in front of an audience of almost 80 from the parliamentary group and the surrounding area. Christoph Strack was there.

One rarely experiences Angela Merkel so personally. The Chancellor speaks of joyfulness in faith, of singing and praying together, of the incentive to "make politics with so much joy" out of Christian faith. Rather amused than irritated, the East German pastor's daughter says that "various books are now being written about her, as I am a Christian" – an allusion to the recent publications, sometimes critical, sometimes benevolent, about Merkel and the "C" in the CDU. The 54-year-old describes everyday school life in the GDR, the decision "Christian teaching yes or no" in front of classmates. "For me, faith is something very personal, very individual." "Dear Angela," says chairman Georg Brunnhuber (61), "Schorsch" she replies. Here, no one explicitly asks anymore about the Pope's criticism, which the head of government had voiced in February to the annoyance of some Catholics in connection with the traditionalist controversy. One or the other member of the circle has already given her his opinion on this on occasion. The questions now revolve around factual ies, bioethics and abortion, family images and social justice. Her expectation of the Bundestag election falls in theNebensatz: "We want to be yes people's party, want 40-and-more percent."Merkel is not concerned with the details in the circle of Union Catholics. The CDU chairwoman repeatedly reminds the deputies to face the social reality in Germany. She promotes the CDU's new family concept, which focuses on early childcare and thus makes it possible for both parents to work. At the same time, however, she says how irreplaceable parental time and attention is for the children. It criticizes the party-internal handling of single parents, "who is different, must justify itself with us first times…"She reports on her conversation with the lesbians and gays in the CDU, "tough as nails": "Incredibly nice people", to whom she was then able to explain that they were not allowed to marry the same sex. And Merkel describes disputes with Berlin's Cardinal Georg Sterzinsky on the subject of asylum. "That would put me relatively far to the left in the CDU, if not intolerable at all…."When the church moves on such ies, it is a reminder to the CDU to "move a little". Some statements from party circles, she says, definitely hurt her… This is how Merkel appeals to the worldview of her conservative caucus colleagues – and then takes them to task again. The chancellor refers to the result of the Berlin referendum on religious education: "sobering. Even I did not expect that.For this reason, Christians in the Union would also have to "do a lot more preliminary work" and "be missionary in a certain way". There are many who are looking for support."If so many in eastern Germany are still reporting for youth initiation ceremonies, it also shows "that we are not managing to pick them up"". The Protestant CDU leader, who was also once the federal chairwoman of the Protestant Working Group of the CDU/CSU, describes her Protestant credo to the Catholic deputies: not to give up ideals – for example, in marriage and family – and yet to find a way to live responsibly with them. In all this, she speaks of Pope Benedict XVI. and John Paul II. with a lot of respect, when looking at the Pole, it almost lets you feel emotion as well. She is very much in favor of coherent dogmatics. Because it is important "that fundamental claims are still formulated at all". And especially on the current topic of the social market economy, she would finally like to see contributions from the Catholic Church that shape a debate or advance it qualitatively.

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