donnaimmaculata | (no subject)

Yesterday, the Pope's brother Georg Ratzinger admitted he had been "slapping" boys who were under his care when he was head of the choir and boarding school Regensburger Domspatzen.

We don't know yet what "slapping" means in this context. It could be anything, a smack around the head, a slap in the face or fully-blown rape.

In the course of the last few weeks, the German media have been exploding with news on beatings and abuse in - mainly Catholic - schools and institutions. Every day - and I'm not exeggarating - we hear of yet another school where children were subjected to humiliation, beating and sexual abuse. Out of 27 Catholic dioceses in Germany, accusations have been raised in 20.

The church spokesmen do what they can to not admit that there might be something wrong with the institution of the Catholic Church as such. There's some "it was long ago, but not any more, we promise" talk, there's some "isolated cases" talk (20 out of 27 dioceses), there's some "the over-sexualised society Made Them Do It" talk; oh, and there are some "we are really sorry, honestly" apologies.

The cases go back decades. Most victims have never raised any accusations, and many cases are now statue-barred. Talks have opened whether the period after which a criminal offense becomes statue-barred should be expanded.

I saw an interview the other day with a politician or activist who commended the church for laying everything open and for not sweeping it under the carpet any longer. And all it took for more transparency and honesty to happen was only massive, nation-wide scandal!

I saw an interview with one of the victims, who was member of the Regenburger Domspatzen choir in the 1950s. He was very articulate and very polite, and very firmly stated that he is surprised, to put it mildly, that the news comes as such a shock. He has been very open about his story of abuse for years, but has never been listened to (statue-barred offense, you see).

The starting point was the Jesuit school Canisius-Kolleg in Berlin, where accusations of sexual abuse that happened in the 1970s and 1980s were raised in January. Other prominent institution involved are the Regensburger Domspatzen (Wiki says: "The choir consists of boys and young men only." Of course it does. Girls are icky and evil and lead to temptation, and we must not have that!) and the elite boarding school Odenwaldschule.

Der Spiegel has a comprehensive write-up and linkage on the whole affair (in German).

ETA: A heartwarming image

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I'm always surprised that people are surprised when these kind of things come into the open.

One of the schools accused of abuse is a non-Catholic one. There was actually a sense of bewilderment and surprise when that came into the open: "And now even the liberal school..." Catholic? Yes, that's what we expect. Secular and liberal? Gasp!

These guys get away with it for so long, they seem flabbergasted at actually being accused.

Bastards.

A main line of argument:

"Violence in education has a long traditin, not only in the church. The entire society is too blame, what with being over-sexualised; sex with children is encouraged on every corner."

Seriously. Why do you accuse our priests? Aliens made them do it!

Aliens must have forgotten to remove their anal probes.

There's no excuse for guys in dresses, except in Rue Paul's Drag Race. *wink*

(It's SUCH a fetishy look, innit?)

Sick bastards, all of 'em. But that's what Power does.

The look might work fine in a church, but it's always slightly ridiculous to see an old man in a purple robe surrounded by serious men in suits, discussing serious matters. Especially since you can't but wonder how many choir boys he has lately molested.

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It's really the enormity of it that's so scary and mind-boggling. And it seems there are no mechanisms to deal with it. There are talks about how the institution church has to be reformed, but we just know nothing will happen, because the pro-churchers staunchly state that "the church is a good thing" and "it spreads the message of love in times when we need it most". Seriously! So this will remain a purely academic debate.

Some individual cases will probably be prosecuted, but there again, the church protects its shepherds, plus, it will be only some isolated cases that will make it to court. Thus it will be proved beyond any doubt that it's not as bad as it looks. < / gloomy predictions >

I am baffled by the parents' reactions. Many parents say in interviews that they will keep their children at the [school in question], because, on the whole, it is a good school, and they trust that most of the padres/nuns/brothers etc. etc. are all right. And you can find black sheep everywhere.

OMG! They should be withdrawing their children from these schools like crazy! If only to make a point and break down the whole rotten system from within! Where's the torch-and-pitchfork mentality when you need it?

And the absolute icing on the cake: I got a leaflet in my letterbox the other day about how minarets are the seats of evil and we mustn't allow any to be build here because of what goes on behind their doors. Aaargh!

ask me in all seriousness if I'm not worried about my child growing up in 'godless' Japan

This is just about the most ridiculous thing ever.