Former sect members criticise Munich Cardinal Marx

Former members of the Catholic Integrated Community criticise Cardinal Reinhard Marx. With his statement that the audit report on the sect only gives tendencies, he disqualifies those affected and suggests that an audit was not objective.

Former members of a Catholic sect have criticised Munich Cardinal Reinhard Marx in a letter to the German Bishops' Conference. This was prompted by statements by Marx on an examination of the "Catholic Integrated Community" under canon law. The church-recognised community had not participated in this so-called visitation.

Therefore, Marx argued in December that the final report of the auditors only gave tendencies. "This statement by the Cardinal, on the one hand, disqualifies the numerous testimonies of those affected and, at the same time, portrays the work of the three Visitors as not objective and disregards it," reads the letter to the German bishops, which was signed by 56 former members of the community.

Integrated Community was considered a Catholic reform project

The Integrated Community was founded in Munich after the Second World War and was long considered an elitist reform project in the Catholic Church. Its aim was to live Christian ideals in all areas - at work, in everyday life and in private life. The most important promoter was Joseph Ratzinger, who as Archbishop of Munich officially recognised the Integrated Community in 1978. Even then, massive criticism of the way the community dealt with its members was on record in the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising. In 1977, the Evangelisches Sonntagsblatt saw a "totalitarian community" at work.

Explosive internal church documents suggest that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, and the Archbishop of Munich and Freising, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, were slow to react to abuses in the Catholic community. Until now, both (Joseph Ratzinger until his death in 2022) have rejected personal co-responsibility or see (saw) no responsibility on the part of the Archbishopric of Munich and Freising.

Cardinal Marx did not dissolve the church sect until 2020

In documents exclusively available to BR, letters from Marx and Ratzinger are quoted. In them, grievances in the "Catholic Integrated Community" are named. They were written in 2003 and 2011, and the church did not draw serious consequences until the visitation in 2019. In 2020, Marx dissolved the congregation in the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising.

The final report of the canonical audit is only partly public, for data protection reasons, as the archdiocese explained. BR has the complete report. Marx has not yet implemented parts of the recommendations of his auditors. For example, there is no commission of its own to deal with the events. The archdiocese refers here to the German Bishops' Conference, with which it wants to coordinate, since the Integrated Community was recognised in several dioceses. In addition, there is a separate contact person for former members.

Former members demand a commission to look into the matter

The former members are now demanding that the German Bishops' Conference set up a truth and reappraisal commission on the Integrated Congregation. The priests who formerly belonged to the Integrated Congregation should also participate. "Since the priests (...) have vowed obedience to their bishops, they should not be able to evade it," the letter says. The Bishops' Conference meets for its spring plenary session in Dresden from Monday.

In the BR podcast and documentary "Soul Catchers", former members of the Integrated Community report that they were forbidden to have children. Marriages were arranged or even separated. Occupation and place of residence were determined by the community leadership. The members were also exploited financially. Confessions took place publicly in the congregational meeting. The congregation leadership under the leadership figure Traudl Wallbrecher spoke of the so-called "total surrender". Theologically, the congregation argued that it was the will of God speaking. Those who opposed the decisions of the leadership were acting against the divine will, according to the attitude.

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