Bishop Haas dragged into Archbishop Zollitsch scandal

Did Bishop Wolfgang Haas cover up abuse?

A Swiss paedo-criminal priest was on the loose in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. In 1992, Wolfgang Haas employed him in the diocese of Chur, although there were warning signs.

Swiss priest Gregor Müller was a religious.

The Catholic world shook in Freiburg im Breisgau (D) this week. An expert report published on Tuesday states: the former head of the German Bishops' Conference, Robert Zollitsch (84), protected abusers and covered up crimes.

The report is 582 pages thick and a disgrace for the Church. Research by SonntagsBlick shows: A Swiss priest is also the subject of the report. It is Father Gregor Müller. The Swiss priest once entered the Cistercian Abbey of Wettingen-Mehrerau. In the 1960s, the priest molested altar boys in Birnau on the German shore of Lake Constance.

Father Müller was a multiple offender

Religious are internationally active. The Cistercians of Wettingen-Mehrerau have their headquarters in Vorarlberg, Austria, but are also active in Germany. Father Gregor Müller was one of them. He abused one altar boy "in at least 30 to 50 cases", as the Freiburg expert report states. Another altar boy reported according to the report: The priest lured him to his room with "the prospect of chocolate" and there tried to "reach into his short leather trousers and grab his member". The altar boy resisted. The priest gave him ten D-marks in hush money.

The report shows how the German Archdiocese of Freiburg covered up the whole affair. Father Gregor Müller recalls a toxic challenge cup that was passed on between Switzerland, Austria and Germany.

In the 1970s, Father Gregor Müller gained a foothold in the diocese of Basel. In 1985 he had sex with a Czechoslovakian in Baden AG. Files obtained by SonntagsBlick show that the man was 28 years old: The man was 28 years old and thus of legal age. But he was mentally unstable and looking for support. It is suspected that Father Gregor Müller took advantage of the situation.

Particularly tragic: the Czechoslovakian later killed a 16-year-old girl with a kitchen knife in Wettingen AG. The subsequent court case also dealt with the question of how far the sex contact with the priest had led to the crime. Apparently, the Czechoslovakian was plagued by feelings of guilt and acted under delusion.

Church knew about the incidents

Later, Father Müller worked in the diocese of Chur, in Schübelbach SZ. SonntagsBlick has an explosive memo. On 23 September 1992, a meeting took place in Chur GR. Present were Müller, a lawyer and the then Vicar General for Original Switzerland. Until recently, the latter was the dean of the Chur cathedral chapter. The subject of the conversation was the incident in Baden.

The memo says: "After drinking alcohol, homosexual contacts with a cult follower occurred (once). The cult follower murdered a girl three days later to atone for his sin. So there is no causal link as the murderer was found to be mentally abnormal and the derailment occurred while drunk."

The memo of the Diocese of Chur states: "Only through the testimony of the murderer did this misconduct come to light and is only contained in the court record." Although the "Badener Tagblatt" had reported on the case at the time, Müller claimed that nothing had become known in Baden.

As can be seen from the memo, Father Gregor Müller was also a topic of discussion in the Bishop's Council of Chur. The bishop in charge at the time was Wolfgang Haas (74). He is still a bishop - but no longer in Chur, but in Liechtenstein. Because of massive complaints, the archbishopric of Vaduz was created for him in 1997. Since then Haas has been Archbishop of Vaduz.

Despite reservations, the Chur bishop's council gave his blessing in 1992. However, the memo states that the priest and the village of Schübelbach "took the risk and the Bishop and Bishop's council did not assume any responsibility".

Expert opinion questions Church's account

In 2010, Müller was publicly exposed. But only because a victim put pressure on him. In 2006, the victim had come forward for the first time - but nothing happened. Only when the former altar boy announced that he would confront Father Gregor with his deeds at the Sunday service in Schübelbach did anything happen.

In 2010, Vitus Huonder was Bishop of Chur. He told the vicar of the Bishop, Christoph Casetti, that the diocese of Chur had "at no time" been informed about sexual assaults by the priest on minors. The German experts consider this account to be implausible.

The report also raises the question of who was responsible. Not only the abbot of Wettingen-Mehrerau was responsible for Müller, but also the respective bishops with whom the priest worked. This therefore also applies to the then Bishop of Basel, Otto Wüst, and Bishop Wolfgang Haas.

Church expresses regret

Father Gregor Müller can no longer be interviewed. He died on 1 May 2017. "He lived privately. His whereabouts were unknown to the abbot until the end," Mehrerau Abbey informs.

The Bishop of Basel, Felix Gmür (56), tells SonntagsBlick: "From today's perspective, I extremely regret the grossly negligent decisions made by those responsible at the time." The spokesperson for the Diocese of Chur, Nicole Büchel, writes: "Bishop Joseph Bonnemain very much regrets that those responsible behaved and decided in such a way in 1992. He will, on the current occasion, again examine the entire files in detail, analyse them as well as take any measures necessary."

"Prime example of systematic cover-up policy"

The moral theologian Daniel Bogner teaches in Fribourg. He sees in Father Gregor Müller a "prime example of the systematic cover-up policy of church leaders in the case of abusers", across national borders. "In Germany as in Switzerland, the highest church and diocese leaders have acted in an ice-cold and empathy-free manner. They only care about the reputation of the organisation, but not about the victims of abuse."

He is particularly outraged by the 1992 memo from the diocese of Chur. "The key sentence is: Bishop and Bishop's Council do not take responsibility." A Bishop always has responsibility for his diocese, he said.

Archbishop Wolfgang Haas could not be reached for SonntagsBlick. More details about the Swiss abuse complex will come to light on 12 September at the latest. That is when historians from the University of Zurich will publish the results of a one-year pilot study. The actual research work is to begin after that. There is a lot to do.

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