Mainz Bishop Kohlgraf comments on the abuse study – SWR Aktuell

In the diocese of Mainz, cases of sexual violence have not been consistently pursued for decades, and some have been kept secret and downplayed – according to the results of the “Experience – Understand – Prepare” (EVV) study commissioned by the diocese. “The diocese, as the responsible institution, has in many cases encouraged sexual abuse through inappropriate handling and a lack of control,” said the Regensburg lawyer Ulrich Weber, who was commissioned by the diocese to carry out the study.

“Deeds are part of the history of the diocese”

“The deeds and crimes that come to the public with the study are just as much a part of the history of the diocese of Mainz as looking the other way and the inability to listen and believe those affected,” said Peter Kohlgraf last Friday when the study was presented.

It is important not to omit this failure when evaluating the lives of bishops such as Albert Stohr, Hermann Cardinal Volk and Karl Cardinal Lehmann. “As important as her merits were in many areas, we heard it unmistakably: the protection of perpetrators and the church was more important to them than the plight of those affected, even if there were different phases of contact during Cardinal Lehmann’s tenure.”

Today Kohlgraf wants to comment in detail on the EVV study, which was not known to the diocese before publication.

25,000 pages of files, 246 conversations

As part of the study, around 25,000 pages of file and archive material were examined and 246 personal, written or telephone interviews were conducted.

The authors of the study consider it “highly plausible” that there are 181 accused and 401 affected. That does not mean, however, that the other cases examined are not plausible; they were also presumably described truthfully. According to the study, there have been 392 suspects and 657 victims since 1945.