Catholic Church: Hardly any control of abusers

The control of priests who have committed sexual violence against children and who are still in the service of the Catholic Church is insufficient. This was the result of research by WDR among all 27 Catholic dioceses in Germany.

If a priest commits sexualized violence to children, his employer, who church, usually the requirement to keep away from children. But how is such a contact ban controlled so that he also adheres to it? The WDR investigated this question and researched all 27 German dioceses.

No control in Cologne and Würzburg

In two dioceses there is no control whatsoever: in Cologne and in Würzburg. In ten other dioceses, only a superior, such as a district dean, or a local priest is informed, or talks are held with employees of the diocese. However, the officers are not specially trained in the control of sex offenders.

Some of the talks only take place once or twice a year. The diocese of Mainz only obliges the accused to report to the diocese. On the other hand, there is no talk of unannounced checks.

Rarely independent employees

Also for the North Rhine-Westphalia dioceses of Münster and Aachen there are no external officers who control the perpetrators. The Diocese of Münster is the only one to state that perpetrators are even forbidden to wear priestly clothing. The Diocese of Münster does not write how this edition is checked exactly.

Only in Essen, Osnabrück, Munich and Dresden are there people outside the church structure, the priests, who have the condition not to approach children. This task is partly carried out by commissions made up of experts – such as lawyers, canonists, psychologists or those affected.

Church “probation officer” controlled in Essen

In Essen, for example, a kind of church probation officer visits the accused weekly, who also have to undergo therapy.

The diocese of Fulda did not answer at all. The dioceses of Paderborn and Passau do not provide any information. According to the press offices, there are currently no priests living in Berlin and Görlitz who are subject to conditions.

Church internals are often overwhelmed

The WDR also started the survey on the occasion of the recently ended trial against the pastor Hans Bernhard U. The serial offender had been sentenced to twelve years in prison by the Cologne Regional Court. He had sexualized violence against girls in the Archdiocese of Cologne for over 40 years without the diocese stopping him.

One of the lawyers in the process, Martina Lörsch, told WDR that, in her opinion, it was not enough to inform a superior priest. He was “usually completely overwhelmed”. The lawyer criticized that there was then a lack of knowledge, for example about perpetrator structures or dynamics between perpetrators and potential victims. “That would normally have to be checked by someone who is also familiar with it.”

Great misunderstanding among the victims

Two co-plaintiffs in the process, the priest’s nieces, Anke S. and Angelika V. spoke in the WDR and in the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger” of “absolute incomprehension”. It has been known in the church since 2010 at the latest that there are suspected cases. That now, twelve years later, the question arises “is there anything we can do about it? We just don’t understand it”.

“Child protection not taken seriously”

Other victims of sexualized violence also showed a lack of understanding for the way the church dealt with the perpetrators. As a child, Patrick Bauer experienced sexualized violence himself for years. Today he is a prison chaplain in the Archdiocese of Cologne and a member of the Advisory Board for those affected by the German Bishops’ Conference. He told WDR about the situation in Cologne: “It’s ridiculous that a commission is only working now, it could have been done in 2010. The archdiocese is much too late with that.” Overall, the situation in the dioceses shows once again that the concerns of those affected and the protection of children are not really taken seriously.

“Responsibility is not clear to all bishops”

Tubingen canon lawyer Bernhard Anuth said the results of the survey show that not all bishops have realized how important their responsibility is to protect children. The case of Pastor U. showed that more people were injured than there were allegations. More effective control might have prevented that, said the university professor.

Transparent concepts required

Ruth Habeland, who has been working with sex offenders as a therapist and social worker for years and at the same time gives prevention training, told WDR that control can only work if there is a transparent concept behind it. External specialists would have to control the perpetrators. They should work in a team so that nobody falls for the flattery of the often charismatic perpetrators.

A total of 24 out of 27 dioceses answered WDR’s questions about the control of priests, who are required to stay away from children, for example. The diocese of Fulda did not answer. The dioceses of Passau and Paderborn did not provide any information. According to the press offices, there are no perpetrators who need to be checked in the dioceses of Berlin and Görlitz.