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Latest update: 15/03/2010
- Catholic Church - children - Germany - paedophilia - Vatican
Sex abuse scandals
In recent months the Catholic Church has been rocked by scandal. After widespread accusations of child abuse by priests in Ireland, similar claims have begun emerging from other European countries, including Austria and the Netherlands. Now criticism in Germany is intensifying, especially after the revelation that the current Pope's brother Georg Ratzinger knew about mistreatment of children in his choir.
Over the last weeks not a day has passed without fresh allegations against more Catholic schools in Germany. The scandal quickly spread to Hamburg, Bonn and Munich. There are now allegations of abuse in 20 of the 27 dioceses in Germany and the victims number in their hundreds.
Berlin's Canisius college, an elite jesuit school, was where the first allegations of sexual abuse were made public.
One of the men who broke the scandal was Thomas. He was only 13 years old when he was subjected to sexual abuse. It took him 30 years to muster up the courage to talk about it and to accuse two of his former teachers, both of them priests. After Thomas spoke up, hundreds of other victims came forward.
"The real scandal," he says, "which I only discovered later, is how one of the offenders was allowed to continue to abuse again and again for another 30 years in a dozen towns and schools across the world, without anyone stopping him."
The German Justice Minister, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, accused the Vatican of obstructing investigations into the alleged abuse in the schools. She believes the Vatican built up a wall of silence, citing a directive from 2001 which says the most severe abuse cases should be subject to papal secrecy. That missive was written by Cardinal Josef Ratzinger, the former Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, now Pope Benedict XVI.
The Justice Minister's comments were an affront to the Catholic Church, according to Stefan Förner, spokesman for the Roman Catholic in Berlin. "It also angered the German Archbishop who fended off the accusations," he says.
"Some of the cases occurred 30 or 40 years ago but I believe that this isn't just about the Catholic Church but it's a problem in society at large. Some things couldn't be spoken about, they were a taboo."
Was the German Catholic Church part of a cover-up, keeping quiet about the years of sexual abuse? That's the opinion of Manuela Groll, a lawyer defending a group of victims in Berlin.
"It's clear from this directive that the Church wants to sort out its own issues and avoid an official investigation," she says. "The Church adheres to its own laws. No consideration has been given to the victims. The Church is shielding the offenders and that speaks volumes."
The German Catholic Church has publically apologised to the victims and agreed to take part in a round table discussion hosted by the government. What Thomas wants is to see the Church compensate the victims and break the rule of silence.
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Comments (4)
"Damn! I missed!"
A guy and a nun go golfing. The guy hits his ball into the water. He says "Damn! I missed!" The nun replies "Don't swear. God can hear you." So the guy is like "Whatever".
He hits the ball again. It goes into the trees. "Damn! I missed!" "Don't swear, God can hear you!" "Whatever"
So, he hits his ball once again, but it only goes about 4 yards. "AARRRGH!!!! SHIT!!!!"
Ok, so about now, God gets mad. He throws down a thunderbolt. It hits the nun.
"Damn! I missed!"
criminal behaviour
to all the apologist go to pbs.org, frontline and watch the hand of god.serial rapists of both boys and girls,tax evasion and living like king herod. jesus said give to him half who has none but the hypocrites in their decadent lifestyle exploit the vulnerable and gulliable.
Catholic Church Sex Scandal is Bigger than all of Us
First, I'd like to extend my heartfelt support and sympathy for all of the victims who are involved (and those who have not come forward yet) in the sexual abuse scandal of the Catholic Church in Germany and Ireland. I myself am a victim of the Catholic Church's sinful coverup of sexual abuse at my grade school in Baltimore, Maryland (USA). I too did not speak of my abuse until one brave victim came forward and told her story. Her reason for coming forward was not of a self-serving nature, but rather to protect other victims. Some of us as young as 11 years old were threatened by our teacher, John Merzbacher, that he would kill us or members of our families if we ever told anyone what was happening at the Catholic Community School. My good friend, Liz, questioned the church leaders about 17 years ago when she was at a crossroads in her faith. She was told to "forget about it (the abuse)" and to move on with her life. She felt uncomfortable with the outcome of her conversations and felt that perhaps the church would contact John Merzbacher to let him know that "things are stirring". In fear that Merzbacher would make good on his threats, Liz began contacting everyone she knew from the Catholic Community School and anyone who she thought was one of his victims so they knew of their potential danger. In this process, more than 30 victims came forward with various degrees of abuse. The Catholic Church hired a legal team to not only protect themselves, but also to protect the principal, Sr. Eileen Weisman, and Merzbacher. Our church first and foremost put themselves behind a shield of legal counsel who accused us as being liars and interested only in monetary gain. As the experiences of the victims were told, and witnesses came forward (including other teachers of the school) it became very evident to all of us that the Church does not practice the Christ-like path they preach. They brushed our abuses under the rug and allowed Merzbacher to continue to teach at the school for over 9 years. Each year, more students fell victim to his prey, and the principal (who by the way was a nun) and the priest turned their heads to reports of parents, students, and their own observations. I could go on for hours telling you my experiences, my community's experiences, and the heart-wrenching experiences of all the victims. But for now, I just want to say to the victims of Germany and Ireland - be strong in your fight. Go with your gut instinct - you KNOW that the Catholic Church is one of the most sinful organizations in the world, and that Jesus is in Heaven waiting for us to bring them to their knees! This is not what God had in mind for his children. Although you are adults now, that child inside you seeks the truth and justice for what he or she lost at such an early age. I truly believe that it's our responsibility as victims to come forth and EDUCATE THE WORLD about who they put their faith and trust in. DO NOT put your faith and trust in the demons that are running the Catholic Church. Put your faith and trust in God and the good people of the world, and you will be just fine. Many of us victims have various crosses to carry - drug addiction, alcohol, sex addictions/abuse, low self-esteem, marriage failures - that is the result of our being victims. Be a SURVIVOR and fight for that child that was lost - good luck and be strong. ****Your friend, and fellow survivor, Mary.
Bashing the Church.....
has continued since our Lord's cruxification and will always be here. No human being is perfect and the sins of some are painted across the message of love, ethics and morality. The desire for money, power, fame and fortune constantly distracts people from hearing, seeing and believing God's Words.
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