Clerical Abuse: Will Germany follow Ireland?

In the ongoing story of clerical abuse in Ireland, what set this country apart from all the others where abuse has been uncovered, was the thoroughness of the church’s (belated) own Ryan Report last, year, and then the exhaustive government investigation into cover-ups by the diocese of Dublin, culminating in the Murphy report in November.  The impact of that report, in Ireland and elsewhere, left me wondering how it would be if other countries were to follow the example of the Irish. (Even at the time of that report, there were calls for an expansion into other Irish dioceses, and into Northern Ireland by the UK government. That pressure will not have been eased by the dissatisfaction at the Vatican meeting with the Irish bishops.) Now it seems that Germany may follow a similar path. For weeks, there have been a series of news reports of abuses, over several decades, at a Jesuit church school in Berlin.  But reports are now emerging of other problems in other cities too, and for other religious orders as well.  It seems that the more the press digs into this story, the more there is to find – and the more willingly former victims are coming forward to shed more light on the past.  Now, church organisations are calling for full disclosure from the church – and German politicians are starting to join in. If the German Church does indeed decide to launch its own Murphy style investigation, they will inevitably find the same Irish and American style cover –ups, as these were clearly mandated in directives from the CDF. Then, after the Germans, how many other nations might follow?

The weekly Der Spiegel, in its issue to appear on Monday, quoted Education Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger as saying she wanted the Church to take "concrete steps" to this end. She proposed a meeting with government representatives, the Church and victims of abuse to discuss possible compensation

Details of the allegations reported in US and British media have been sketchy, but this English language report from inside Germany is detailed and horrifying. From Der Spiegel:

The Catholic Church in Germany has been shaken in recent days by revelations of a series of sexual abuse cases. Close to 100 priests and members of the laity have been suspected of abuse in recent years. After years of suppression, the wall of silence appears to be crumbling. This is what it looks like, the document of a conspiracy: 24 pages, with appendix, in Latin, published by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican. A "norma interna," or confidential set of guidelines for all bishops, who were required to keep it a secret for all eternity, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. According to the instructions from Rome, the bishops were to deal very firmly with each individual case - so firmly, in fact, that everything would remain within the confines of the HolyChurch. After all, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith -- formerly known as the Inquisition - has centuries of experience in conducting internal investigations. The Vatican has always filled all the positions in such investigations - prosecutors, defendants, judges - from within its own ranks, while the investigation files have been kept in the secret archives of the Roman Curia.

(For a discussion of the content and significance of this document, see    at “Queering the Church”.  At the time that its existence was discovered and reported in the press, the Vatican claimed that it was out f date, and had been replaced.  However, a much later document from Cardinal Ratzinger, then at the CDF , placed the same emphasis on secrecy.) For the details of the actual allegations, read the full report. Vatican responses to the Irish problems have consistently attempted to portray it as a local governance problem.  However, there have also been widespread problems across the United States, and problems also in Germany, Canada, the UK, Italy, Austria, Australia and South Africa – and these are just the ones I know of off the top of my head. I suspect that the major difference between countries is not the prevalence of abuse, but just how much has so far been uncovered.  The German pattern seems to be following much the same path as the early days of the exposure in the US, while the German Bishop’s internal guidelines on responding to the problem are entirely consistent with the pattern laid down by the Vatican decades ago – and the pattern displayed elsewhere.

Code of Secrecy But upon closer inspection, even these guidelines are pervaded by the Church's way of thinking, as affirmed by the Holy See in 1962 under Pope John XXIII and once again in 2001. According to those guidelines, which remain in force today, potential cases of abuse must be reported to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The guidelines also forbid bishops worldwide from taking any steps beyond an initial investigation of accusations without direct instructions from Rome. The entire procedure is subject to "pontifical secrecy," the second-highest level of secrecy within the Holy See. Anyone who violates this code of secrecy without papal permission can be punished. The guidelines of the German Bishops' Conference are worded accordingly and emphasize the primacy of discreet internal investigations. Before making a decision, each bishop must first consider ways to protect the reputation of the priest and theChurch. When Rome takes over the investigations, some abuse cases can be quietly dealt with in secret trials. Based on its own canonical law, the German Catholic Church does not feel obligated to immediately report cases of abuse within its own ranks to the German authorities, so that the authorities can conduct house searches, for example. Critics say that theChurch is exposing itself to charges of obstruction of justice, as long as the clergy handles cases purely on an internal basis. Critical Catholic groups have long sought to change the Bishops' Conference guidelines, but to no avail. Bernd Göhrig, the executive director of a group called theChurch from Below, calls for the establishment of independent ombudsmen to address the concerns of the victims, instead of the biased representatives of the diocese. This is probably the only viable option, given that the German bishops are as reluctant to address the issue of prohibited sex as the German pope. Even after the massive abuse scandal in the United States in 2002, Cardinal Karl Lehmann, the bishop of the southwestern German city of Mainz and the head of the German Catholic Church at the time, felt no particular need to take action. "We don't have a problem of the same dimension (as in the American Church)," he told Spiegel in an interview at the time. In his diocese, he said, anyone who "is truly a pedophile is immediately removed from pastoral service." These kinds of people, he said, could "not simply be transferred to a different location." Only a few weeks later, however, Lehmann was confronted with a new case of abuse inside his own diocese, in a parish near Darmstadt. A few months earlier, parents in a small city near Frankfurt had discovered, to their dismay, that the new director of their children's choir, Father E., was the same man who had been forced to leave his previous parish because of questionable relationships with minors. Lehmann's system had already shuffled the priest around several times from one location to another.

Critical Catholic groups have long sought to change the Bishops' Conference guidelines, but to no avail. Bernd Göhrig, the executive director of a group called theChurch from Below, calls for the establishment of independent ombudsmen to address the concerns of the victims, instead of the biased representatives of the diocese. This is probably the only viable option, given that the German bishops are as reluctant to address the issue of prohibited sex as the German pope.

These German instructions are clearly based on two Vatican documents to bishops worldwidem one of them produced by Cardinal Ratzinger himself. I would like to remind Pope Benedict of a fundamental principle of Catholic theology familiar to me from primary school.  It is always possible to obtain forgiveness for sin, but there can be no absolution before confession,  repentance and reparation.  In the case of abuse, reparation is not possible - but when will we hear from him a confession of his own role in the decades long mishandling of this? Where will this end? 

More on "Suicide, Catholic Church, and Abuse": A Readers's Story:

My post on the church's culpability in youth suicide has brought this moving comment at Queering the Church, which has brought me , quite literally, to tears. I reproduce it here for your consideration, with no further comment - I have no words that would be good enough:

Thank you Terence for posting this thought provoking post. I would not want to comment directly on the Unglo family’s actions, though I have a good idea of their anguish and pain.

All I would say is that sometimes (and more often than appears on the surface) your two threads of thought intersect, tragically.

My wife and I are firmly convinced that young gays and lesbians are far more likely to be clergy sexually abused than their straight peers.

Here is our story, which is the story of our beloved son: Remembering Eric - 2nd Anniversary Of His Death the associated links tell some more about him and us. I know we had to fight my then-Bishop to have Eric’s funeral service in the local church building ~ because ‘the canons’ forbade the funeral of ‘a suicide’ in church. Heaping insult upon injury.

May Eric, and all the other suicide-victims of clergy sexual abuse … rest in peace, and rise in Glory!

sincerely,

John Iliff

"Eric's story" concludes with these word:

It was there in 1935 that he told his students:

'The one who does not cry out for the Jews has no right to sing Gregorian chant'.

Today, we forthrightly submit that:

'The one who does not cry out for the victims of clergy sexual abuse has no right to say the Catholic mass nor sing the Orthodox Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom'.

Irish Abuse Outrage as "Painful Surgery" - Bishop

A newly appointed Irish bishop,  Liam McDaid of Clogher, has described the crisis of abuse which has rocked the church worldwide, but especially in Ireland, as "painful surgery", which was necessary, but has brought much-needed healing. It's a striking analogy, and like any surgery, it has certainly been painful and was clearly necessary. Has it brought healing, as he suggests? I don't know about Ireland, but from a broader perspective, I'm sceptical. It takes time to get over from major surgery, and recovery is never guaranteed. On the surgery executed on the church, the jury is still out. Has the surgeon's knife cut deep enough? Were the cuts and stitches made the correct ones? Only time will tell.   Before reaching a verdict and signing off on a clean bill of health, we must continue to watch the patient closely, and monitor all symptoms.

“Painful surgery” good for Church, says new Bishop

The newly ordained Catholic Bishop of Clogher Liam McDaid has said that the Church was in need of “painful surgery” in order to cleanse it of the iniquity of having been responsible for years of child abuse. 

The Bishop said that the abuse scandal which rocked the Church brought the institution to its knees, ‘but perhaps that isn’t a bad thing,’ he added.

He invited fellow clergymen and lay-person to “repentant return to the well of salvation” as he prayed for a new direction for the Church in Ireland.

A native of Bundoran, Co Donegal, Bishop McDaid said “society has forced us in the Irish church to look into the mirror, and what we saw were weakness and failure, victims and abuse. The surgeon’s knife has been painful but necessary. A lot of evil and poison has been excised.

“There comes a time when the surgeon’s knife has done what it can, is put away, and a regime of rehabilitation for the patient is put in place.

“We have been brought to our knees, but maybe that is no bad thing. It can bring us closer to the core of the mystery.”

 He continued: “So while society keeps the mirror in front of us and rightly checks that we are sincere in our intentions and efforts towards rehabilitation, can I invite you, priests and people of the diocese of Clogher, to join me in a repentant return to the well of salvation.

“The journey will include, for many, facing the enormous challenge of forgiveness.

“Despite his intense suffering, Jesus forgave those who mocked, spat at, scourged and abused him. One of the co-crucified could not bring himself beyond abuse and excluded himself; the other rose to embracing forgiveness, and was welcomed into the kingdom. There are many painful experiences in life where only forgiveness can bring closure.”

-Irish Times 

UK: Child Protection Head Criticizes the Vatican

The Vatican’s recently published new guidelines provide for the doubling of the time limit allowed for prosecution under the statute  of limitations, from 10 years to 20. The head of the UK Church’s own Child protection agency says this doesn’t go far enough, as it fails to reflect the long-term effects of abuse. He argues that it should be removed altogether.

UK Catholic child protection agency criticises Vatican

National Catholic Safeguarding Commission calls for abolition of statute of limitations on prosecution of priests over child abuse

The head of child protection for the Catholic church in England and Wales has said the Vatican should remove the statute of limitations on prosecution of of priests for child abuse offences.

William Kilgallon, the chair of the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission (NCSC), argued that the time limit was unhelpful and failed to reflect the long-lasting effects of abuse.

He described the Vatican's recent decision to double the time period from 10 years to to 20 as "better than it was", but said he would have preferred its abolition.

He was speaking at the launch of the NCSC's annual report, which highlighted developments in the protection of children and vulnerable adults.

When asked to comment about the latest guidelines from the Vatican, Kilgallon replied: "It is good the time limit has been extended; my advice would have been to remove any limit. It is better than it was, but I would have preferred to see the removal of limits entirely."

He explained that the church in England and Wales was becoming more aware of the serious impact of abuse, and how the effects persisted with people into their adult lives. Events late in life could trigger feelings and trauma, forcing people to relive their experiences, he told the press conference.

-(Full report at the Guardian)

Suicide, Abuse, and the Catholic Church

One of my earliest memories from primary school religion lessons is that suicide is a grievous sin, one of the worst of all. If that is so, how serious is it to be responsible for another person's suicide? And how serious is it if that person is a representative of the Catholic Church, or indirectly, the whole impersonal structure of the Church itself?

The Church has by now become accustomed to being sued by survivors of clerical abuse, of boys, girls, and adults alike. It is also now accustomed to paying out large sums, as the result of court judgements, out-of court settlements, or (in some cases) plain hush money, all for abuse.

In Pennsylvania, it is now facing a monetary claim on different grounds, still arising from a case of alleged abuse. Michael Unglo was an abuse victim in the diocese of Pittsburgh, where he was molested for several years by Fr Richard Dorsch, who was later defrocked and imprisoned.  After Unglo attempted suicide in 2008, Bishop Zubik promised him that the church would "right the wrong"  that had been done to him, and began paying for psychiatric treatment.  Earlier this year, he was told that a payment of $75 000 would be his last one. Two months later, he killed himself. (See "Suicide's family sues Catholic church", at UPI.com )

Now the family are suing the diocese for wrongful death, arguing that the diocese should have continued paying for his treatment.

Examining the Abuse Crisis in the Church: NCR Review

It’s been a while now since I wrote anything at all about the problems of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. That is not because I’ve lost interest, and still less because the problem has gone away – quite the contrary. I just reached a point, especially after the papal response to the Irish bishops, that there seemed so much to say, but also so much being written elsewhere, that the issue was in danger of becoming all-consuming, and with it, a risk of becoming contaminated with what my colleague Jayden Cameron calls “psychic poison”.  I needed to take a step back, and get some of the perspective that comes with distance.

With that advantage, I now want to make a regular return to the topic, not with my own thoughts, but by drawing to your attention some of the better commentary I have seen elsewhere – with the emphasis on commentary, not the gory details. I am also no longer particularly interested in analysing the causes, (except  where there is something fresh being said), as much of these have been discussed endlessly, both here,  at Queering the Church, and elsewhere. I am now more interested in writing about the likely long-term impact on the church (as I began to discuss here).

(As Andrew Sullivan observes, "One imagines that this 1973 design for the Catholic Church's Archdiocesan Youth Commission would not make the cut today")

To kick this off, I wiant to draw your attention to what has become an impressive continuous series on the subject at National Catholic Reporter, some of which I will be discussing later in more detail.

Not Just Catholics: Minnesota

Suit to accuse Minn. Christian retreat leader of sex abuse

A longtime minister and founder of a Christian retreat in northwestern Minnesota is being accused of sexually assaulting a pre-teen girl whom he counseled.

The sexual-abuse accusations against the Rev. Gerald Derstine will be made in a federal lawsuit to be filed Wednesday by Jeff Anderson, the St. Paul attorney who has rattled the Roman Catholic Church all the way to the Vatican over long-running allegations of clergy abuse.

Anderson's law firm has scheduled a news conference Wednesday afternoon in St. Paul, after the suit is filed in U.S. District Court.

Along with the 81-year-old Derstine, the suit will name as defendants the Florida-based Gospel Crusade Inc., which he founded and chairs, and other entities under his direction.

The suit will allege that Derstine was involved in the "recruiting, grooming and subsequent sexual abuse and exploitation of an 11-year-old female from Minnesota," Anderson's law firm said in a news release.

The abuse took place at Gospel Crusade's Strawberry Lake Christian Retreat from August 2007 to July 2009, the law firm contends.

Full report from the Strib: