Mounting German abuse scandal: nearly 100 Church workers suspected

February 08, 2010

Nearly 100 German priests and Church lay workers-- only 30 of whom have faced prosecution-- are suspected of abusing children, according to a survey of German dioceses conducted by Der Spiegel. “The revelations show a dark chapter of the Church that horrifies me,” said Father Hans Langendoerfer, secretary of the German bishops’ conference.

Abuse allegations center around four Jesuit schools and date primarily from the 1970s and 1980s. A man identified by Der Spiegel as Wolfgang S., who left the Society of Jesus in 1992 and now lives in South America, apologized for abusing children at a Berlin Jesuit school. “I'm sorry for what I did to you. And if you are capable, I ask you to forgive me.” He said he had “again and again come into close contact with the torturers and victims” of Chile’s Pinochet regime following his move to the South American nation. “I was confronted with my mirror image as a tormenter of children.”

 

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Further information:

• Abuse allegations mount at German Catholic church (Deutsche Welle)
• Germany Shaken By 'Systematic' Sexual Abuse at Berlin Catholic School (Der Spiegel)
• Report: More cases of child abuse suspected in Catholic schools (Deutsche Presse-Agentur)