instrumentalising sexual abuse, German Catholic laity intent on making Church a prisoner of the state
"We are still at the beginning of the process of coming to terms with the abuse": ZdK Vice President Wolfgang Klose takes stock of the abuse scandal
The balance sheet of the "Working Group on Coming to Terms with Abuse" in the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) makes it clear: sexual abuse in the Catholic Church requires advocacy for those affected at all levels. For this, we need to continue to keep a critical eye on the process of coming to terms with the Church. However, Catholic associations and organisations must also face up to the process themselves.
"In recent years, the focus has been on the implementation of professional institutional prevention work," said Wolfgang Klose, Vice President of the ZdK and head of the Working Group on Reappraisal. It is clearly recognisable "that the committees of the ZdK and also the people who are involved in the structures of lay Catholicism are today much more sensitised to the topics of abuse, prevention and coming to terms with it". At the same time, "the process of coming to terms with the abuse in the structures of lay Catholicism is still in its infancy in many places".
The goals of the working group, which the plenary assembly decided to set up in April 2021, have largely been achieved. These include the successful ongoing cooperation with those affected, the analysis and critical monitoring of the reappraisal in the dioceses, the regular exchange with associations and councils on reappraisal projects as well as the development of an agenda for protection against sexual violence and safeguarding the best interests of the child. In particular, contact with politicians has been intensified. There is "hope that the state will become even more involved and accompany, support and, above all, control independent church reappraisal more closely and consistently", said Klose. The Secretary General of the ZdK, Marc Frings, had already formulated this publicly the day before: "We have the concern to expand Paragraph 174c StGB very directly to include protection against sexual abuse in pastoral relationships - a demand that is derived directly from the experiences around spiritual abuse."
"It seems a sensible time now to hand over the tasks and concerns at hand to the existing bodies or the operational work of the Presidium and the General Secretariat," said Wolfgang Klose. The ZdK Presidium will make a proposal at the next meeting of the ZdK Main Committee in June on how the issue can be intensively dealt with from now on. One thing is certain: "It is a major issue for us, for the work of the ZdK," said Klose. In a lively debate, the plenary assembly had previously argued vehemently in favour of making the topic of coming to terms with the past an unchanged outstanding task of the ZdK.
The contacts with the Independent Commissioner of the Federal Government, Kerstin Claus, are good and continue the productive exchange that the ZdK Presidium already had with her predecessor in office, Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig, said Klose. What is important now is "a joint consultation with the working group of Catholic organisations on the development of possible superordinate structures for coming to terms with the past in the Catholic associations and organisations" and the further support of the Diocesan councils in their critical accompaniment of the dioceses in the process of coming to terms with the past.
In the morning, in a discussion moderated by Johanna Beck, two experts on the topic had made it clear that abuse could only take place permanently in an environment characterised by silence, co-clericalism and intransparency. Helga Dill, managing director of the Institute for Practical Research and Project Consultancy in Munich and responsible for a study in the diocese of Essen, said: "The process of coming to terms with abuse is not completed when the report is available in a diocese. Then the process of coming to terms with the situation begins. It is about those directly affected, but also about the parishes. They have "a right to clarification", but must also reflect on their own role. "It is important to push for democratisation in the church"; the unpleasant non-questioning of the exaggerated priestly role is dangerous. Stefan Tiefenthaler, a member of the initiative Sauerteig, which is a driving force in the reappraisal, was convinced: "The Church will not come to rest with this topic for the next few years."
The plenary assembly of the ZdK in Munich ends today at noon. It dealt not only with coming to terms with sexual abuse, but also with the question of an ethic of peace in times of war and the future of the Synodal Way in Germany and the world. Self-determination and participation in society and the church were reinforced and demanded as basic concerns.
ZdK press release 6/5/2023
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