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Mar. 10th, 2010 01:02 pmYesterday, 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
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
