Ray Colgan reports from Canisius College in Berlin, which finds itself at the centre of the biggest scandal to hit the Catholic Church in Germany
The Canisius College sits in one of Berlin's most prestigious neighbourhoods. It is opposite the city's Tiergarten park and its neighbours are embassies. For decades it has been one of Germany's elite schools. Its former pupils have gone on to become politicians, scientists and appropriately enough diplomats. But now the school finds itself at the centre of the biggest scandal to hit the Catholic Church in Germany in decades.
Back in January, the school announced that it had seven cases of abuse of children by priests who worked there. After years of silence, the Jesuits decided it was time to act and appointed lawyer Ursula Raue to investigate. She is now dealing with 150 cases from Jesuit institutions alone. When asked if she will be taking any lessons from how the Catholic Church in Ireland handled the problem, she indicates that she would like to ensure her work proceeds without excessive delays. She says she has no idea how long the process will take, but her hope is that by reviewing all the victims’ cases she will be able to put together guidelines to protect children in the future. For the overwhelming majority of cases, there is no prospect of prosecuting the abusers because under German law too much time has passed to bring a case.
Of course there had been other cases of abuse before, but none have attracted so much attention. Part of the reason is that there were never so many cases in one institution. But according to Der Spiegel reporter Peter Wensierski, there is another reason too. Simply put, those abused at the Canisius College were rich kids.
The cases of abuse in Berlin led to other victims from other schools bringing their stories into the open. The St Blasien school in the Black Forest admitted that it was dealing with 20 cases of abuse by a priest dating back to the early 1980s. The man responsible had quite openly detailed the abuse as part of the process of leaving the order in 1991. But for 18 years the files sat in archives, with no action taken. The current principal of the college, Fr Johannes Siebner, says that he was furious at the delay. He insists that the order has now decided to effectively throw the doors open. It is clear that some within the church are not convinced that approach is taking care of the institution's best interests. But according to Fr Siebner, the approach they are taking now is the one that should have been taken years ago: putting the victims first.
The latest victims to come forward are from Bavaria, Germany's Catholic heartland. The cases involve a cathedral choir in Regensburg, as well as the Ettal Monastery in the German Alps. According to Peter Wensierski, these cases in particular raise serious questions for Pope Benedict as they occurred in the Archdiocese of Munich while the current Pope was archbishop.
Many German Catholics are struggling to come to terms with one wave of cases after another. I spoke to some of the congregation at Berlin's St Hedwig's Catholic Cathedral and there is a strong sense of anger. One man suggested that the German Church needed to learn an important lesson from Ireland: it cannot operate as a law unto itself. There is not a lot of optimism.
The skyline outside the Church is dominated by East Berlin's television tower. Posters inside the cathedral porch detail how St Hedwig's survived the Nazi era and the Communist regime of the German Democratic Republic. As is often the case, the most perceptive comments are made off-mic. One man commented on how German Catholics are clinging to the hope that the church is still fundamentally sound, and has it within itself to deal with the crisis. As he put it, Communists during the last days of the GDR were arguing the same thing.
Ray Colgan
