Catholic Church: New Dimension in Abuse Scandal?

Former home residents raise new allegations against the Catholic Church in Bavaria. According to research by Report Munich there are indications of ritual abuse and perpetrator networks.

Martha Stark and Ferdinand Schönau have never spoken openly about their story in front of the camera. In reality they are called quite differently; their names were changed for their protection. Both grew up in homes in Bavaria in the 1960s and 1970s and experienced the worst there. In many cases they were humiliated and raped, by educators and by clergy.

One of the crime scenes: the sacristy in the old parish church in Feldafing, a small town on Lake Starnberg in the south of Munich. There they were raped by the village pastor, who has since died. Another victim, who was also at the home in Feldafing as a child, reports of ritual abuse in which several people were involved. Report Munich there are several testimonies from former children in the home, all of whom report ritual abuse. Different crime scenes are named.

Again and again ritual abuse

Susanne Seßler from the “Weißer Ring” aid organization looks after two of these victims and considers the statements to be credible. She is repeatedly confronted with ritual abuse in her work. “There were always these cases. And these severely traumatized people who experienced this, in homes or in sects, but unfortunately also in Catholic homes.”

Former home children also speak in their statements that they were passed on for abuse. “That’s where we were chosen. Like the fruit. This and that. I like that one.” Then it was said: “‘Come on, I’ll show you something nice.’ We knew what to expect, that was already clear. ”

Could there have been networks of perpetrators around Lake Starnberg, for example? The world-renowned psychologist Jan Kizilhan considers the statements of those affected to be credible. “For me, the places where abuse may have taken place are important, they are reproduced. The type of abuse, how it has been abused, is presented very specifically and in great detail.” However, there is hardly any written evidence. Many of the crimes are statute-barred, most of the perpetrators dead.

Expert in Rome considers allegations plausible

One of the most important experts in the Catholic Church on abuse is Professor Peter Beer. He has been teaching at the Papal Gregorian University since 2019, before that he was Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Munich-Freising. There he was responsible for processing the abuse cases, he considers the new allegations plausible:

At the beginning, I still remember when I was Vicar General in Munich, when the abuse cases became known, not everyone agreed whether they were priests or lay bodies. Not everyone agreed to look into abuses. It was always the opinion, yes, these are isolated cases, that can happen from time to time. It’s bad, but it’s not the church. And gradually it became clear: There are not just any small individual cases, but serious cases in a number that are absolutely unacceptable and that also indicate that there must be systemic reasons here.

In the so-called MHG study from 2018, 1670 clerics were accused of sexual abuse, and 3677 children and adolescents were affected by sexual abuse. And again and again those affected who have been silent for decades get in touch. Including a man in Lower Franconia who had lived in a home in Würzburg in the mid-1950s. He makes allegations against a priest who allegedly sexually abused him. “To greet you, you got a kiss on the mouth from the bearded man. I was sitting on my lap, the father was getting more and more restless. Somehow his hands were everywhere.”

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