Mass abuse in church circles, cover-up and sometimes only half-hearted clarification: how can this be done better and how can victims in particular be caught in the long term? The children's commission of the state parliament listens to experts.
Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) - The criminal law professor Joachim Renzikowski calls for the topic of sexuality and problems with celibacy to be comprehensively anchored in priestly training. In a statement to the North Rhine-Westphalian state parliament on the subject of abuse in the church context, the lawyer writes that celibacy tends to indirectly encourage abuse. "Because the vast majority of sexual offenses do not result from misguided sexuality." However, an indirect effect could result from "the fact that the obligation to be celibate could attract people who have a disturbed relationship with their sexuality".
So far, however, such problems have not been systematically addressed either in the training of priests or in their subsequent activity, because the vocation to celibacy is assumed to be the same as the vocation to the priesthood. This needs to be corrected, warned the legal scholar from the Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg. It has been proven that authoritarian-clerical power structures favor sexual abuse. "It is particularly perfidious when sacraments such as confession to sexual assaults are perverted."
The reason for the remarks is an expert hearing scheduled for March 2nd by the Child Protection Commission of the Düsseldorf state parliament. The basis is an application by the SPD opposition for a more effective and sustainable processing of acts of abuse.
Among other things, the SPD calls for an independent child protection officer and a "truth commission to deal with sexual abuse of children in a church context". In addition, the state government should campaign in the Bundesrat to expand the Criminal Code to include criminal liability for sexual abuse in pastoral care.
The terror increases
The Social Democrats' inventory is drastic: For almost a decade, the public has been watching how - without uniform standards - attempts are being made in the Catholic Church to clarify abuse and its cover-up in its own ranks. "The horror is increasing, the results are partly sobering, partly shocking," says the application. Dubious behavior, including by the highest dignitaries, has plunged the churches into a deep crisis of trust and legitimacy, which in particular has called their moral integrity into question.
Neither the institutions concerned nor the state lived up to the claim of providing the best possible support to victims of sexual violence. "The environment in which abuse took place extends far beyond state and private children's and youth facilities, sports clubs and church institutions and also requires a central contact point and processing in NRW," concludes the SPD parliamentary group. With 15,500 cases nationwide and an increase of 6.3 percent compared to the previous year, the crime statistics for 2021 show that child sexual abuse remains a major social problem.
In its statement, the Catholic Office of North Rhine-Westphalia welcomes additional bodies and government efforts that serve to protect children, prevent and investigate abuse. The Catholic Church will do everything legally possible and has already done a lot.
Among other things, the Catholic and Protestant Churches have introduced mandatory prevention training for full-time and honorary employees. The Catholic Office reported that over 300,000 had been trained in all five NRW dioceses in recent years. An external institute was commissioned to check the effectiveness of the preventive measures this year. In addition, around 40 million euros have been paid out to those affected "as a sign of institutional responsibility".
It is clear that the institutional processing cannot replace a legal clarification of the criminal offenses or the individual processing of the trauma in therapy. The archdiocese of Paderborn, which has employees who deal with those affected trained as trauma consultants, is an example.
Less a knowledge problem than an implementation problem
"It needs a transparent, consistent and ruthless investigation of the crime complex and a consistent handling of the accused," admits the Catholic Office. "The crime complex also includes the people who have covered up or kept silent." In response to the SPD's criticism that the dioceses do not follow uniform standards in their expert clarification approaches, it should be stated, however, "that we have less a problem of knowledge than a problem of implementation".
Despite all recognizable efforts by the Catholic Church in Germany, it must be said that reform movements are reaching their limits, said law professor Renzikowski. "They don't let themselves be dictated by state law." However, religious communities and churches are by no means areas free of fundamental rights. Thus, the Church's right to self-determination does not release one from the duty to protect sexual self-determination.
The criminal lawyer admits a certain gap in the penal code in relation to sexual abuse in pastoral care. However, it is not easy to close. Finally, no general ban on sexual contacts for pastors could be established. Protecting celibacy under criminal law would be "an absurd idea".
