Rome, Italy, Jul 20, 2017 / 03:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A member of Pope Francis’ commission to protect minors says a new report on the abuse of more than 500 choir boys in Germany points to a current reality in many non-western countries – and that bringing these things to light means progress for everyone.
“It will take time, but this kind of sensitivity that is created by publicly discussing these things of course will push, because people realize what is right and what is wrong, and they realize that they will be questioned if something goes wrong,” Fr. Hans Zollner told CNA July 19.
Fr. Zollner is vice-rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University, director of the university’s Center for Child Protection (CCP), and a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.
He spoke following the July 18 publication of a report on an investigation German lawyer Ulrich Weber carried out on the Regensburger Domspatzen, the official choir for the Regensburg Cathedral.
While it was previously thought that only 250 children had been victimized, Weber said the number of children affected is closer to around 500.
According to the report, members of the choir were exposed to physical abuse and 67 suffered sexual abuse from 49 members of the school’s faculty, ranging from 1945 until the early 90s. However, most of alleged perpetrators will likely not face charges due to the amount of time that has gone by.
The reported violence ranged from public ridicule, heavy beatings, and sexual abuse, but a significant portion of the documented incidents involved slapping and food deprivation, a legal form of discipline in Bavaria until the 1980s.
Fr. Zollner said that the magnitude of the abuse was discovered thanks to the decision of the diocese’s bishop to open the archives, allowing a more in-depth investigation to take place.
What came to light was “a horrible and horrendous story” that has been going on for some 70 years, he said, adding that this took place because “in those years and decades people who could have known didn’t look at it, people who could have spoken to police didn’t do it.”
“This includes of course the Church leadership, but this also includes the parents and relatives of the children,” he said, noting that he himself grew up in the city and had friends who were members of the choir.
Zollner recalls his friends talk about getting “beaten up,” but that at the time, “sensitivity to child rights and the violation of these rights was not as high as it is now, and corporal punishment was considered more or less a normal way of education.”
The majority of the excessive discipline in the choir was attributed to Johann Meier, a schoolmaster at one of the boarding schools from 1953 to 1992. However, Benedict XVI’s older brother, Georg Ratzinger, who directed the choir from 1964-1994, was accused of turning a blind eye to the abuse.
It also accused Cardinal Gerhard Muller, who oversaw the diocese from 2002-2012, of cover-up.
Fr. Ratzinger said he was unaware of any sexual abuse, but admitted to slapping children, as it was common practice at the time.
In his comments to CNA, Fr. Zollner noted that while societal understanding of abuse has changed in most western countries, there are several in Asia, Africa and some parts of Latin America where such actions are still common practice.
Speaking of a recent visit to Myanmar, where he offered training and workshops on child protection guidelines, the priest said that while there, he was told that parents would often “specifically ask the teachers to beat their children if they do not obey.”
Zollner said that in Myanmar specifically, it is still normal in some Buddhist monasteries to flog the monks publicly if they are disobedient.
“This is the idea that you learn obedience and correct behavior by beating. So this is the idea that at present in the minds and in the context and in the behavior of parents in an Asian country,” he said, noting that he has seen the same scenario in some African and Latin American countries.
However, the government is now “clamping down on that, so they are also changing the law so that in public schools corporal punishment is prohibited.”
In western society the use of corporal punishment is widely recognized as unacceptable, and this is thanks to both a growing awareness and a “owning up” to the consequences of what is now considered as abuse.
The adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of the Child by the U.N. in 1959 and the subsequent formation of the U.N. Committee for the Rights of the Child have both prompted an increase in awareness that “a young person needs formation and education, yes, and also needs limits, but this can never be imposed and should never be imposed by physical violence or psychological violence or humiliation,” Zollner said.
But to make the point across the board, these rights must be explained and repeated, he said. We must also be realistic with the fact that while many, if not all, countries have signed the declaration, “not all have ratified them.”
When it comes to taking punitive action against those who were abusive in the past, believing it to be acceptable as the normal custom of the time, Fr. Zollner said holding them to account for their actions is a tricky question.
In most cases there is a statute of limitations, and “you can only hold people accountable for the time period that the law covers and for all those criminal acts that are punishable.”
“We don’t have general measures that would and could punish people for something that has happened decades ago if there is not a legal provision for that,” Zollner said.
A current trend for western charities funding Church or social work is to have the recipient sign up not only to obey the law in their country, but they are also required to sign a child protection/safeguarding policy that the charity maintains.
“People unfortunately are not just doing good things because they want to do it, but sometimes they also need to be forced to do it by such measures that are taken in case you do not follow the norms,” he said.
When it comes to the Church and her role in protecting children from predators, Fr. Zollner said the first thing to do is to learn from the mistakes of the past, particularly bishops and Church leaders as a whole.
This, he said, “gives us the possibility to do at least a little bit of justice to all those who have been harmed in such a terrible way.”
Practical steps include thorough screenings of employees on the part of Church institutions that carry our educational, social or pastoral work, delving into the person’s past and present, looking specifically at their interactions with youth.
It’s also necessary that “very clear guidelines and norms” are given, as well as initial and ongoing training for Church workers, which is a task the commission is specifically responsible for.
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How ghoulish! Enter the door marked “Superstition”. Is it any wonder some take amusement at the Church of Rome.
Bury the skull, instead exalt Christ!
Brian: First, read some history; secondly, deepen your theological understanding of God, Christ, the Incarnation, the body, etc.
It’s not ghoulish or superstitious. Or amusing. You are speaking like a 21st-century American, not a Christian rooted in Tradition faith, and eschatological hope.
Everything to do with the saints (relics, prayers, devotion, etc) is about Jesus Christ, precisely because the Catholic Faith has a far deeper, more robust, and authentic understanding of the Church, communio, and the material realm than do Protestants, who are so often (as one Protestant author rightly called it years ago) quite gnostic in their understanding of the created world.
Carl with comeuppance for yours truly. One of the reasons to enjoy CWR is to learn. The forum attracts able writers and educated, godly responders. We don’t have to be correct on every point, yet we are enriched as we encounter dialogue from fellow lovers of Christ. CWR is a catalyst for developing faith, eschewing misconceptions and aiding those who do not know Christ.
Perhaps you are correct in your summation, however, I would not be putting the skull of this giant of the faith on my mantlepiece anytime soon (providing some thoughtful soul sent it along)!
Allow me to compliment you and your staff on your God honouring work!
Ever in Christ,
Brian
James 1:9-10 Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away.
1 Corinthians 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
Romans 10:2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
Brian. God be with you.
Dear Georgina:
God’s richest blessings as you strive to serve Him!
Yours in Christ,
Brian
Dear Carl:
The gnostic perspective and Philip K lee!
A true protestant will reject gnosticism because it is unbiblical. You must review numerous drafts that present irregular and sometimes unorthodox views. Training and good scholarship allows you to separate the wheat form the chaff.
In John’s letters to the church, he uncovers the gnostic perspective. He does not endorse those views as sound theology. While these ideas may help a person to understand Christ’s message and decline conclusions that are contrary to Holy Scripture, should we not study the excellent while rejecting substandard analysis?
In Colossians, 1st and 2nd Timothy, Titus and 2nd Peter, again, admonishment is given against the heresy of the gnostics. Perhaps scripture says it best in respect to the follower of gnosticism:
2 Timothy 3:7 always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.
2 Timothy 4:3-4 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
Ephesians 4:14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
Blessings,
Brian
“A true protestant will reject gnosticism because it is unbiblical.”
And yet, Brian, you apparently accept and promote sola scriptura, which is completely unbiblical. But we’ve covered that ground already…
Dear Carl:
How can the word of God be incomplete? He who has given us everything we need, in some such way, left something out? While I deeply respect your work, it will happen that we disagree from time to time. However, could you point to a specific instance where scripture fails to address a particular need that man has?
Matthew 4:4 But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Romans 15:4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
Ephesians 6:17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
Blessings upon blessings,
Brian
Let those who take amusement at the church of Rome enjoy their laugh. They will laugh last as the Church honors the material remains of a saint of profound reason, deeply blessed faith, heavenly inspiration, and unearthly industry, skulls and its contents could greatly benefit. They will also laugh last as Jesus the Christ honors in heaven what the Church honors on Earth, as He holds bound what His Catholic Church holds bound. He is her Head. What body part does Protestantism hold with which to amuse, enjoy and believe itself blessed by that part?
Dear Meiron:
Thank you for responding and offering your perspective. You have said a great deal in a few sentences. Allow me to attempt to reply to you.
We agree on the excellence of Aquinas. We celebrate his faith, words and work. How could we laugh at such a godly legacy? Praise God for such a man.
If we discuss godly matters, our framework should be the guidance of God.
1 Peter 3:15 But in your hearts honour Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defence to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
You point to: Matthew 16:19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
We ask ourselves is there a restraining mechanism that all believers in Christ should adhere to?
Revelation 22:18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book,
Peter is liberated by the word of God and constrained by eternal precepts ordained by God, as well.
Malachi 1:6 “A son honours his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honour? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’
Isaiah 29:13 And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honour me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
Though I stand to be corrected, Catholics and Protestants celebrate the resurrected and holy body, plus spirit of Jesus Christ the righteous.
Blessings,
Brian