German Chancellor Merkel: "Sexual abuse of children ... is an abhorrent crime." - DER SPIEGEL

[Call Me Wesley]

Merkel Calls Church Abuse 'Abhorrent'

DER SPIEGEL - 3/17/2010

After weeks of keeping silent on the issue, Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday spoke out on the mounting allegations of sexual abuse within the German Catholic Church. Also on Wednesday, a Church representative admitted that some cases of abuse had been suppressed.

The complaints keep coming. By the end of last week, some 200 people claiming to be victims in Germany had approached a Berlin attorney engaged by the Jesuits to look into cases of sexual abuse by members of the Catholic clergy. A further 150 went public with stories of mistreatment at the monastery school in Ettal. And 15 former choirboys came forward with grievances relating to their time as members of the famous Regensburg choir called the Domspatzen.

On Wednesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel commented on the abuse scandal for the first time. Speaking to the German parliament, the Bundestag, during a debate on the country's 2010 budget, Merkel said that "sexual abuse of children ... is an abhorrent crime." She went on to say that "there is only one possibility for our society to come to grips with these cases: truth and clarity about all that has happened."

Read full article here.

[ensho]

1. good for Merkel - may she keep the pressure on the catholics

the kids need all the protection we can give them

[Call Me Wesley]

3. Let's hope so.

This is now too big to just hide or transfer some Catholic clergy to another place.

And the fact that Merkel spoke about it, is surprising enough. She never liked confrontations.

[hlthe2b]

2. Truth, hell.... I think they need high level prosecutions

It certainly appears that both Herrs Ratzinger were guilty of obstruction of justice... Seems that might well be a good place to start.

[Call Me Wesley]

6. Agreed.

The only problem I see here is how to go about the prosecution. The Pope itself can always hide behind the walls of the Vatican. It would be nice (and probably almost utopian) to see the church members asking for prosecution.

It still goes on, and who knows, we might see the first Pope giving up his throne.

[trotsky]

7. You're right. It would be utopian to expect that.

The vast majority of Catholics are evidently perfectly content to say, "just a few bad apples" followed by "but my church is OK" and then go right about their business.

[hedgehog]

9. Sort of like the typical American's attitude toward Congress vs

his Congressman?

My younger son was baptized by a guy who was later kicked out. He was sent to our parish very abruptly and left in the middle of the night.

[trotsky]

17. I wonder which parish he ended up at. n/t

[Call Me Wesley]

10. Now I do hope I'm not right.

This isn't a small clergy issue anymore, and there are more cases of child molesting surfacing almost each day. And this one is hitting home - which means the names Ratzinger are midst in there twice.

And don't forget that before becoming Pope, Karl Ratzinger was the head of the Inquisition. So all cases of child molesting went over his mahogany desk.

[Call Me Wesley]

14. Ooops, sorry, typo: It's Joseph Alois Ratzinger.

Not sure where the 'Karl' came in here ...

[slampoet]

12. You may want to change your definition of "Vast Majority"

http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Christianity/Catholic/2008/04/Beliefnet-Poll-Catholics-Observant-But-Some-Seek-Change.aspx

"A majority of poll respondents believe this is important. Sixty-six percent say the Catholic bishops have not done enough to address the crisis and 64.2 percent say the pope has not done enough to address it."

Also exactly who is ignoring abuse in their church?

The same might be said of some other denominations.

http://www.reformation.com/

"We would be naïve and dishonest were we to say this is a Roman Catholic problem and has nothing to do with us because we have married and female priests in our church. Sin and abusive behavior know no ecclesial or other boundaries." Rt. Rev. William Persell, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago, Good Friday Sermon, 2002.

and here is a list of 800+ Ministers accused of sexual abuse.

http://reformation.com/CSA/allabuse.html

[Call Me Wesley]

15. The article doesn't leave the other denominations out.

In fact, there was a great essay in this week's SPIEGEL from Bodo Kirchhoff, one of Germany's top authors, describing painfully his abuse by an evangelical priest. No, it's not just one side showing, but this time it's really concentrated amongst Roman Catholics and some very few locations.

[slampoet]

19. I am replying to a post NOT the original article.

[Call Me Wesley]

20. Yes, I saw that.

I just wanted to say that other denominations are as guilty as well.

[slampoet]

21. Well please tell it to trotsky since he is the only one putting forward that idea.

i am the one who link to 800+ examples of that very thing, whereas trotsky feels he can't be refuted because he is making up stats w/o linking.

[trotsky]

23. Other denominations do indeed suffer from these kinds of sex crimes.

However that makes absolutely no difference to my statements. The existence of sex crimes in other religions does not in any way excuse or make up for the systemic child rape and protection of rapists done by the Catholic Church in a formal capacity.

[trotsky]

16. None of what you posted disputes what I said.

But thanks anyway!

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[slampoet]

22. It does, case closed.

whine to the admin about that.

[hlthe2b]

8. Prosecuting the Pope would be blocked by diplomatic immunity issues

given the Vatican has country status. I wonder, though, if that applies to the brother, who is still in Germany?

[Call Me Wesley]

11. He could seek refuge.

But then, the Vatican walls would hide criminals. Which it probably does already, given the case. It would be just like the fact that Kissinger can't travel to France anymore (because he has a standing arrest warrant there.)

Life would not change much for these old geezers in their sultry robes ...

[Heidi]

4. Recommended. She's callin' the Vatican out (and rightfully so).

:kick:

[Echo In Light]

5. k/r

[malaise]

13. Excellent

Rec

[MellowDem]

24. Except when it's a famous director that does it.... -France

[Solly Mack]

25. k/r

[TexasObserver]

26. Good. So many countries seem too cowardly to address scandal in the Catholic church.

[Nikki Stone1]

27. Consider the obvious stated, Ms. Merkel. Now, what are you going to do about it?

???