"The Church Covered Up Crimes"

The current abuse report weighs heavily on high-ranking members of the Catholic Church.

A pastoral speaker from Haimhausen finds clear words.

Haimhausen

– The report on the omissions of the Catholic Church in dealing with cases of abuse has caused a stir.

"It stirs up and affects," writes Alexander Daniel, pastoral officer of the Haimhausen-Fahrenzhausen parish association, in a newsletter.

He explains why he still belongs to and works for the Church.

The new abuse

the Catholic Church. It burdens the emeritus Pope Benedict XVI. and the incumbent Archbishop Reinhard Marx. Many local clergymen were not allowed or did not want to speak. Pastor Bernhard Rümmler, head of the Karlsfeld parish association, however, said that what had happened was "cruel and shameful". "The church is supposed to be a light, but when priests commit sexual violence against children, this light is extinguished." Rümmler says he does not yet know whether he will speak about the subject in church services. "But I've touched on that in sermons before."

There is great concern in the Catholic Church that the report will result in many people leaving the church.

Alexander Daniel, pastoral officer of the Haimhausen-Fahrenzhausen parish association, explains in a parish newsletter why he is staying.

The 30-year-old from Munich has been working in Haimhausen for three years.

Excerpts from his greeting:

“Dear readers!

This week, the external report on the sexual abuse of minors and adult wards by clerics and full-time employees in the Archdiocese of Munich-Freising from 1945 to 2019 was presented to the public at a press conference.

The report stirs up and affects.

This also confronted me again with a question that I have heard again and again in recent years: Why do you still work for the Catholic Church at all?

Both people from my circle of friends and strangers often do not understand why I, as a young employee, see my place in the Catholic Church, a church in which so many things are not going well.

In my childhood and youth I was able to get to know a faith and a church that became my spiritual home and still enrich my life today. Through the pastors in my home parish I got to know and appreciate the beauty of the Catholic liturgy. At that time, the pastors gave us young people a lot of space, a say, opportunities to shape, develop and develop in the parish. The youth work, my weekly altar boy service and the community in the parish have shown me that my place is in the Catholic Church and I wouldn't want to do without it.

There are other reasons I continue to belong to and work for the Church today: I know many professionals and volunteers who do their best every day to serve others and make a difference in the world do. They focus on Christ and their fellow human beings and show very clearly that the church does not only consist of power struggles in the Vatican, abuse and hypocritical sexual morality. They are Christians who reach out to the poor, the captive, the lonely, and the sick; who take care of people whose lives have gotten out of joint and who have had bad luck, who support them, help them and give them new hope again.

In conversations I get confirmation again and again that it is precisely these pastors and volunteers who still give hope for a good future for the church with wonderfully designed services and pastoral work close to people.

It is these positive experiences that, despite everything, allow me to remain faithful to the Catholic Church and which are still a strong foundation for my church work today.

I still understand any person who turns their back on the Church.

In recent decades, the official church has provided sufficient reasons for leaving.

She has hurt countless people – physically and mentally.

She disappointed people.

She acted wrongly and immorally.

She covered up crimes.

For this reason, many no longer want to identify with this institution and have left.

Leaving the church and distancing yourself from the church will continue to be a major issue.

I see it as a challenge supported by the Holy Spirit.

The key question is not how to get people back into the church, but how we as a church can get to the people.

I, too, suffer from the weaknesses and crimes of the church, the failures of officers and members.

Nevertheless, with my stay and my work, I want to set an example that the church can be modern and renewed.

In order for the church to be renewed, it needs people who stand up for it and fight for change.

I'm staying because I still have hope for the Church.

I stay with the church because I want to shape it.

I'm staying because the church is making, and can continue to make, good and hugely important contributions to our society.

I stay because of Jesus and his good news.”  

no/tol