The Vatican's new norms

NCR
Jul. 16, 2010
By Thomas Doyle

The latest attempt by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to stem the continuous onslaught of revelations of sex abuse and cover-up in Europe and elsewhere has some good and some bad aspects.

The first revision is relatively radical: the CDF now has the right to judge members of the ruling class (cardinals, bishops, and papal legates). Previously the Code reserved all cases involving accusations of violation of the church's criminal laws by bishops and above to the Pope. This change is a response to the constant criticism of the practice of giving bishops accused of sex abuse a free pass. The fact is that the popes could have disciplined errant bishops all along but instead chose to hide behind the myth that they are some sort of sacred nobility.

The norms list several canonical crimes that are subject to the CDF. There is a serious gap in this list: failure to properly and responsibly respond to report of sex abuse by clerics. This would obviously nail the majority of U.S. bishops, both retired and active. This crime is just as devastating as the sex abuse itself because it obviously enables continued rape and molestation of innocent children and adults. The bishops' systemic practice of cover-up and dishonesty, which should be a crime, is also a gross insult to all lay persons and not just victims and their families. Why? Because it reveals a clear disdain for the non-ordained and a concept of justice that is clearly subjective and therefore self-destructive.

One of the better points which is probably lost on those not savvy to canon law-speak is number 4, the faculty to sanate the acts in cases with procedural errors from lower tribunals. This means that when a case from a diocesan tribunal undergoes the mandatory review at the CDF, procedural errors that did not violate the right of defense will be retroactively corrected. This is important because it potentially eliminates the practice of vacating cases that had procedural errors.

Rising the statute of limitations to 20 years after majority is only a slight improvement but is still very short of what should have been done. The defenders of the church repeatedly try to mitigate the serious nature of most of the victims coming forward, referring to them as "old cases." This is a meaningless categorization but worse, it is a cruel and insensitive label for those who were molested and abused years ago. The constant pain from physical, emotional and spiritual abuse does not disappear over time. It remains and in most cases gets worse. Most child victims hold back for 30 years before finding the courage to take the risk of disclosing their abuse. They are imprisoned and paralyzed by guilt, shame, fear and an unwillingness to re-open the deep wounds. Clergy victims suffer from an added layer of fear imposed by the church itself through its heretical teaching that clerics are somehow superior to lay people and so sacred that they are entitled to exemption from accountability. The better revision would have been to extend the period to 40 years past majority. The best revision would have been total elimination of the statute. The whining of the lawyers and others that this makes trying cases difficult is nonsense. The statute is actually a presumption in favor of the criminal abuser. The statute of limitations should not evaluate evidence. That's the tribunal's job.

The cloak of secrecy hasn't been removed. Fr. Lombardi claims that secrecy is maintained "in order to safeguard the dignity of all the people involved." This of course, is a lame excuse for the Vatican's obsession with image. Historically totalitarian regimes dispense their peculiar version of justice behind closed doors. In the church's case, closed hearings would be acceptable but as it stands now, tribunal cases in the U.S. are generally buried so deep that even the victims are stonewalled about the case. If Fr. Lombardi's rationale reflects official policy then it seems that everybody's dignity is respected except that of the victims.

The eighth revision is a potential for disaster. This one gives the local bishops the power to proceed judicially against people whom they suspect of heresy, apostasy or schism. The potential for misuse of this norm and the consequent denial of due process and the right of free expression to people the bishops decide don't think like them is terrifying.
The official revisions to the 2001 document issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith are an improvement even though they are far too late in coming and lacking in some significant provisions.

Fr. Lombardi's accompanying explanation is remarkable for one reason only: he openly admits that public outcry, which obviously includes secular media coverage, actually had an impact on the pope and other Vatican officials. This is remarkable in light of the usual practice of either accusing the media of being anti-Catholic any time they criticized the church or dismissing them outright as being irrelevant. The problem with his admission is that the media and the public should have been listened to 25 years ago instead of ignored.

The main problem with the Vatican's latest attempt at damage control is that they continue to deny the fundamental issue: the nature of the clericalized monarchical structure of the institutional church and its role in the systematic dismantling of the reality of church as People of God.

[Tom Doyle is a priest, canon lawyer, addictions therapist and long-time supporter of justice and compassion for clergy sex abuse victims.]

de dolkstootlegende Spitting in public

Tackling justice and compensation for abuse victims must not be delayed

The Sydney Morning Herald
National Times

Editorial 
22-5-2013

BRON

The three concurrent inquiries into institutional child abuse are uncovering terrible suffering and will soon enough prompt calls for fairer measures of compensation. The federal royal commission does not tackle issues of reparations. But admissions by institutions such as the Catholic Church need to be dealt with beyond the inquiries.

Existing laws make it very difficult for victims to use the court system - and it is hardly preferable to have courts jammed with claims that prolong the wait for justice and increase the costs to the community.
This is particularly worrying as legal aid budgets are squeezed, compensation fund payouts limited and the allowable times for making a civil claim shrink.

While many victims will welcome the chance to tell their stories, governments need to co-ordinate a response to compensation. It should not be beyond the wit of governments to serve the needs of victims of crime while protecting the public purse.

Previous legislative attempts relating to the Stolen Generations are instructive.

While the Howard and Rudd governments blocked compensation, the Stolen Generations Compensation Bill of 2008 - and, in particular the associated parliamentary inquiry - covered the options of an ex gratia payment scheme or a no-fault compensation scheme. The schemes would have been managed by a tribunal. In the case of institutional child abuse, the government is not the defendant and as such cases will be even more complex. That means the legal system will carry the burden.

The better option is to design a scheme that can quickly assess child abuse claims and pay reparations capped at a nominal amount. It could likewise take into account payments already made by the institutions and allow for flexibility if court action is pursued.

In Ireland, a compensation scheme was set up by an act of parliament for victims of abuse by the Catholic Church. It was run by the Redress Board and victims could not double dip through it and the courts.

For NSW victims, their avenues of redress are already being curtailed. The government is putting a ceiling on the compensation payable to victims of crime, and a time limit on claims.
The changes will reduce the maximum compensation payouts to victims of crime from $50,000 to $15,000. Under the Victims Rights and Support Bill, an application must be made within 10 years of the act or, if the victim was a child when it occurred, within 10 years after they turn 18.

Attorney-General Greg Smith calls it a simpler scheme that gives victims immediate help with out-of-pocket expenses and access to free counselling. The changes were prompted by a $300 million deficit in the Victims Compensation Fund. But it is also apparent that Smith has subscribed to the view that it takes more than cash to mend wounds. He cites Howard Brown, a member of the NSW Victims Advisory Board which recommended the changes, that victims of sex abuse need counselling, not money. They need both.

As the Public Interest Advocacy Centre put it to the Senate committee in 2008: ''It is critical that a mechanism distinctly shaped by the needs of the Stolen Generations is put in place to service the dual objectives of redressing past harm and creating measures of reparation that offer enduring social, cultural and economic benefits to those affected.''

The advocacy centre proposed a model it claimed would allow for: access by those harmed to an agreed form of compensation; the existence of a scheme for financing a range of reparations measures; the possible containment of litigation, creating finality and certainty for governments and those affected; and an effective mechanism for providing social justice.

The same goals can be applied to any system of compensation for child abuse victims.

The O'Farrell government denies it is anything other than coincidence that its legislation has been brought into Parliament as the federal royal commission hearings into institutional abuse begin. The separate inquiry into child abuse cover-ups in the Hunter Valley and the Victorian parliamentary committee inquiry into that state's abuse are both due to report before the federal commission has its first public hearings.

Federal and state MPs need to work quickly to tackle the long-term issue of justice and compensation for victims.

Moose crossing Gregorius OLV 7 Smarten

MCU

En de klepel in de nek

As church files revealed this week, Bishop Thomas J. Curry chose again and again to conceal clerics' crimes and put priests' welfare ahead of helping victims.

Jan 26, 2013

 "I wish to apologize for those instances when I made decisions regarding the treatment and disposition of clergy accused of sexual abuse that in retrospect appear inadequate or mistaken."

 

A mistake the Santa Barbara District Attorney's Office is now investigating.

"We have some very serious allegations of obstruction of justice at the very least by individuals, I think the community has trusted throughout for a number of decades," says Santa Barbara City Chief Deputy District Attorney Hilary Dozer. "And that's a disturbing fact."

And prosecutors face another challenge. Most of the files happened in the 1980's far beyond the statute of limitations.

"If an individual has actively hidden information from law enforcement, there are some ways and situations where that statute of limitations is tolled," says Dozer. "Meaning it does not preclude us from going forward."

Senior Deputy District Attorney Ron Zonnen to lead the investigation against the church.

 
By Hector Becerra, Ashley Powers and Victoria Kim, Los Angeles Times

February 2, 2013

 SANTA BARBARA — When he took office in 1985, Roger M. Mahony set about modernizing the operations of the Los Angeles Archdiocese. He brought in computers and put women in top jobs.

He then appointed an Irish-born academic to a brand-new cabinet position: Vicar for Clergy, a human resources director of sorts for priests, brothers and nuns. Msgr. Thomas J. Curry would shape the way the nation's largest archdiocese responded to claims that its priests had molested and raped children.

In his five years in the role, Curry was a staunch defender of the church and its clergymen. And as revealed in secret church records made public this week, he chose again and again to conceal clerics' crimes from police and put priests' welfare ahead of helping victims.

 On Thursday, as his former boss was publicly rebuked, the 70-year-old regional bishop in Santa Barbara stepped down, part of an unprecedented reaction by the Catholic Church to the clergy child abuse scandal. It was a stunning fall for a man who had acted as a right hand for one of the most powerful U.S. Catholic prelates.

Over the years, Curry has issued numerous public apologies in response to the sex abuse scandal. At the same time, he has been outspoken in his criticism of government authorities who, he says, were overzealous in their investigations.
"The targeting of the Church (particularly in California), the overreaching of district attorneys and prosecutors, and the lack of due process and fairness for the Church has been tyrannical," he once wrote on a personal blog.

In another online missive, he criticized a San Diego federal judge who had upheld a California law allowing victims to sue for decades-old abuse: "Americans assume that the days of Henry VIII, when rulers declared themselves authorities in religious matters, are long gone in America. For Catholics, unfortunately, that is far from the reality."
 
In an email to The Times on Saturday, Curry said he wrote the blog posts to make the point that the Catholic Church was being unfairly blamed for a "society-wide issue."
"I do believe that it is a mistake for society to treat this as a 'Catholic Church' problem," he said.

Memos and letters
Not long after his appointment as vicar in 1985, Curry was discussing ways to keep the misdeeds of priests out of the court system, the newly released records show. Curry wrote memos and letters stating that he believed the church was not legally responsible for the harm its priests caused.

In November 1989, Curry wrote to Mahony about where to assign Father Kevin Barmasse, who had been sent to Tucson years earlier after molesting a Lakewood boy. The priest wanted to return to Los Angeles. Curry wrote: "The young boy involved is now about eighteen, so Kevin should certainly not return for another two years by which time the period for filing law suits will have passed."

In a letter that same month, he told Barmasse to stay in Arizona.
"While such suits are not effective against the Archdiocese, in that the Archdiocese was not aware of your behavior and did take action as soon as it became aware of it, they are extremely painful for all parties involved," Curry wrote. "Our experience tells us that your presence in the area ... would greatly increase the possibility of a suit against you."

He also dismissed the notion that the church bore responsibility for the acts of Msgr. Peter Garcia, a priest who targeted the children of undocumented immigrants.

In a 1990 letter, Curry wrote that he viewed a boy molested by Garcia as "the victim of a person who, as a result of his own illness, committed grave wrongs."
"Although the person was a priest, he did not perform these wrongs as a representative of the Church or even with its knowledge," he wrote.

Curry, as Mahony's delegate in handling abuse claims, dealt directly with the problem priests. After he met and corresponded with them, his sympathies often appeared to lie with the clerics.

Of one priest, George Neville Rucker, accused in 1989 by a 31-year-old woman of decades-old abuse, he wrote: "It was of great concern to him that for something that was so casual to him at the time could be so devastating to her … he stays awake at night because of this."
"The trouble it caused him and his transfer was such a trauma for him that he has never been involved in anything since that time," Curry recounted.

Curry also proposed to Mahony that another priest stay away from a therapist who "should have" contacted police but did not. And, he raised the possibility of sending an abusive cleric to a psychiatrist who was also an attorney so their conversations would remain legally confidential.

Curry declined to respond to questions on the files, saying he has "not had the time or opportunity" to review them. He said he felt "profound regret, disappointment, sorrow and sympathy" for parishioners who may have felt betrayed by the revelations.

Curry stressed that his actions related to priest abuse were at the behest of Mahony.
"I acted after consultation and consent of the Archbishop," he wrote in the email sent by his attorney. Curry said if such allegations were to come to his attention today, he would "be sure to ascertain that the matter had been reported to the secular authorities."

Church and state
Curry was ordained as a priest in Ireland in 1967. He earned a degree at University College Dublin in history and political science and soon moved to Southern California, where he worked as a parish priest in Woodland Hills and then as a high school teacher in Downey and Santa Fe Springs. He received his doctorate in American history at Claremont Graduate University.

Curry is a 1st Amendment scholar who has written and lectured extensively about the separation of church and state. He argues that since the 1940s, the government has meddled too much in church affairs.
When the church abuse scandal broke in 2002, more than a decade after his tenure as vicar ended, Curry was the Santa Barbara regional bishop. He repeatedly apologized in local newspapers, saying the church had not been equipped to deal with the problem.

That year, a group of Catholics started a chapter of the national church reform group Voice of the Faithful. Curry met with them. Marie Foley, 74, a former professor at Santa Barbara City College, said that Curry came across as a gentle scholar, an introverted intellectual who charmed people with his Irish brogue. He was far from imperious, she said.
"He expressed remorse at those meetings," Foley said. "I thought it was heartfelt. I got a sense that they were very slow in understanding sexual abuse and understanding pedophilia."

Behind closed doors, however, Curry struck a different tone.
In a 2009 civil deposition about his handling of Michael Baker, one of the archdiocese's most notorious pedophile priests, Curry said that in the 1980s neither he nor Mahony notified parishes where Baker had previously served, nor did they try to locate victims. "I wasn't trained in finding people," he said.

The bishop said he understood child molestation was a crime in 1986, when Baker first told church officials he'd abused boys, but didn't call the police because there was an understanding that Baker's admission — though not a sacramental confession — was a "confidential matter."
"If he had come in and told you he had murdered children, would you have called police?" an attorney asked.
"I don't know what I would have done in that I never dealt with such a thing," Curry replied.

Authorities believe that Baker molested as many as 23 children. He pleaded guilty in 2007 to sexually abusing two boys. Curry said that he was "disappointed" and "grieved" over the priest's transgressions, but he added: "I did not think I made a mistake at the time."
"Do you feel you bear partial responsibility for that by putting him back in ministry?" the attorney asked.
"No," Curry said.
"So your conscience is clear on that?" the attorney asked.
The bishop replied: "Yes."

'Very cordial'
In recent years, Curry had gained the respect of some Santa Barbara parishioners critical of the church's handling of the priest scandal.

Kathleen Strittmatter, 70, and her husband were so taken by the affable bishop that every Christmas they sent him a few bottles of good red wine. He didn't like Merlot, and shied away from Scotch, which gave him headaches, she said. The couple also gave Curry a series of jazz albums.
Strittmatter, who would sometimes run into Curry at the local Trader Joe's, said he often spoke nostalgically of his native Ireland.
"I felt a real connection to the man," she said. "He was very kind and very cordial."
 
When an elderly friend of hers who volunteered at Curry's residence started suffering from dementia, the bishop and Strittmatter worked together to help her.

This week, she and others were dumbfounded by what the reams of church records and correspondences revealed about the bishop's reaction to allegations of child abuse. They said they couldn't help but think about the public apologies he made a decade ago.

The local chapter of Voice of the Faithful called for Curry's resignation. But Strittmatter said she felt she owed Curry her own personal email. After a lot of prayer, Strittmatter told the bishop she hoped he would resign, adding pessimistically: "This will never happen I know."

She concluded the email: "I have spent the last week in devastation and sorrow, as I am sure have you. May God have mercy on us all."

 Becerra reported from Santa Barbara, and Powers and Kim from Los Angeles. Times staff writers Harriet Ryan, Jack Leonard and Alan Zarembo contributed to this report.

any given sunday Archbishop Jose Gomez's letter on priest sex abuse to be read at Sunday Masses

A letter from Archbishop Jose Gomez expressing his anguish about newly released sex-abuse files will be read during Mass on Sunday to Roman Catholics around the Los Angeles area, who will also hear pleas for donations to the region's poorest parishes.

 At St. Bartholomew Church in Long Beach, Monsignor Bernard Leheny plans to interject his own request - that parishioners put aside their anger at clergy implicated in the ongoing scandal and focus instead on living the tenets of their faith. "The hurt has been resurrected by the bad publicity and the mistakes that were made," Leheny said. "I worry that will hurt the poor parishes if people hold back (on donations).

ABC NEWS

"But the church has made tremendous progress in  the protection of children. All the people who deal with children - not just the clergy, but lay ministers - have taken training sessions so they can be aware. "You see this around the church on any given Sunday."


Leheny's hope is that efforts by the church will allow its followers to someday get past the horrific details contained in the files on pedophile priests that were released last week.

The decades-old documents show that Cardinal Roger Mahony and his then-Vicar of Clergy Thomas Curry knowingly transferred priests accused of molestation from parish to parish and maneuvered to protect them from the police.
Minutes after the court-ordered release of some 12,000 pages of documents for 124 priests on Thursday, Gomez issued a statement describing the behavior detailed in the files as "terribly sad and evil." "There is no excuse, no explaining away what happened to these children," Gomez said in his statement, which will be read at Sunday Masses. "The priests involved had the duty to be their spiritual fathers and they failed."  Gomez indicated that he's working on a long-term plan to rebuild trust in the nation's largest archdiocese, with details to be announced in the weeks ahead.

"We will continue to work, every day, to make sure that our children are safe and loved and cared for in our parishes, schools and in every ministry in the archdiocese," he said. The first step in the process was a public rebuke of Mahony, whom Gomez stripped of his administrative and public duties - a move that sex-abuse victims decried as symbolic since the cardinal had no administrative duties and his public appearances were limited.

Gomez also allowed Curry to step down as bishop of the Santa Barbara region. Mahony fired back Friday with a letter to Gomez, noting that he's apologized repeatedly for his failures. And while he claimed to be ill-equipped to handle complaints of sex abuse during his first years in Los Angeles, the archdiocese "was second to none in protecting children and youth" by the time Gomez succeeded him as archbishop in 2011.
The church now has a policy of reporting allegations of abuse to law enforcement and removing the priests from ministry.

Leaders of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, were skeptical of the church's efforts to protect its youngest members.
  "We are reaching out to Catholics and members of the community who may have been witnesses to abuse, who may be a whistle-blower, who may have heard allegations, may have heard a confession, may have heard an admission," said Joelle Casteix, western regional director of SNAP.

"We believe that is the only way we will get the true story of the scope and scale of abuse in the archdiocese." SNAP also called on authorities to investigate and prosecute high-ranking church officials who participated in the cover-up of child molestations.

The District Attorney's Office has said it is reviewing the files. The documents posted Thursday on the archdiocese website were part of a 2007 settlement with more than 500 sex-abuse victims, who shared in a record $660 million payout.
 The details in the new files are similar to those revealed in 14 cases released the previous week.

Still, there are surprising details showing how Mahony and his top aides plotted to protect the church from scandal. Mahony received a letter  in 1991 from a man stating that he'd been molested as a child by Father Carl Sutphin when he was assigned to St. Rose of Lima Parish in Maywood.

Mahony sent Sutphin away for treatment, then reassigned him as a chaplain at a convalescent home. After more allegations surfaced in 1994, again dating back to the '70s, the priest was transferred to St. Vibiana Cathedral.

Mahony later chose Sutphin to be an associate pastor when the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels opened in 2001.
A year later, however, Sutphin retired from the ministry when he was indicted for molestation - charges that were later dismissed because the statute of limitations had expired.
Sutphin was defrocked in 2005.

According to a church report, he was accused of molesting 18 young boys.
 "There are very few priests of this archdiocese who have had more allegations of such an egregious nature made against them," says a report summarizing the accusations against him.

During the early years of the sex-abuse scandal, church leaders typically took the word of priests over their accusers.

 After admitting to church officials that he'd had a long-term sexual relationship with a teenage girl in the late 1980s, Father Joseph Pina was ordered to undergo therapy, including a six-month stint at Villa St. John Vianney Hospital in Pennsylvania, described in the files as the most regimented treatment facility in country for problem priests.

 "I saw us as a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship," he told one therapist. Pina told another psychologist that he'd been attracted to an eighth-grade girl when he saw her in a costume.


 "She dressed as Snow White I had a crush on Snow White, so I started to open myself up to her," according to the file.

After his release, Pina was assigned to San Buenaventura Mission and told to have no one-on-one contact with females 14-30. By 1998, however, he'd been accused of taking young girls shopping and touching them inappropriately.
He was admitted to the sexual-offenders unit at Del Amo Hospital in Torrance and resigned days later from St. Emydius Church in Lynwood.

Pina was invested by a Ventura County grand jury, but was never charged, according to the file. He was defrocked in 2006.
Two years later, a follow-up memo says that Pina was working for the Los Angeles Unified School District. A 2008 memo posted online by LAUSD identifies Pina as the community contact for an elementary school being built in Canoga Park.

Father Gerald Fessard was allowed to continue in the ministry although he'd pleaded no contest in 1987 to one count each of battery and child molestation after fondling five teenage boys at Our Lady Queen of Angels High School Seminary.
 The plea deal got him a sentence of three years' probation.

A note from Curry says that neither the police nor the City Attorney's Office wanted to publicize the case. Fessard was told not to have contact with minors and to attend 12-step programs for alcohol and sex addiction. In 1994, however, he was accused of inappropriate contact with teenage girls and of being drunk at youth group meets at St. Luke Parish in Temple City. In 2002, Fessard and Mahony agreed that the priest would resign from the priesthood.

 That process took five years while Fessard pressured the church for financial support.

Terry McKiernan, president of bishopaccountability.org, which has been tracking the sex-abuse scandal at diocese across the U.S., said the next few months will be critical in determining the future of the Los Angeles Archdiocese.

He noted that Mahony was a champion for Hispanic Catholics and an advocate for immigrants. At the same time, many of the sex-abuse victims were youngsters from immigrant families.

  "The Latino population is a huge wild card," McKiernan said. "Will they forgive this kind of behavior? Having Gomez there makes a difference, but I wouldn't even dream of saying which way it's going to break." McKiernan and others said that efforts by Mahony and other church leaders to block the release of the documents prolonged the pain felt by sex-abuse victims and everyday Catholics.

"This is a tragedy that is continuing to have a ripple effect longer than anyone ever expected," said the Rev. Thomas Reese, a Jesuit and senior fellow at Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University.

"This is a tragedy for the victims, and a tragedy for the people of Los Angeles." 

Meninos nà janela mi kom fristeri yu.

De deuren van het Rijksmuseum, nacht van de geschiedenis aflevering 617 B Finkensieper

CLICK

Bee, I'm expecting you! The frogs got home last week, Are settled and at work

Yours,

Fly

KLIK

Opvallende toename verering H. Laurentius, schorten schiet omhoog ; Lawyer: Los Angeles abuse documents could see release by year's end

NCR
Jul. 26, 2012

By Tom Roberts

Hundreds of plaintiffs involved in a historic sex abuse settlement more than five years ago with the Los Angeles archdiocese may be coming to the end of a long struggle to gain access to thousands of pages of documentation detailing the conduct of church officials in handling the scandal.

On July 18, a California Appeals Court denied the latest petition of the archdiocese to restrict access to priest personnel files sought by attorney Anthony De Marco as part of a current abuse lawsuit he has filed against the archdiocese.

The significance of the recent decision, however, goes beyond the case in question, De Marco said in a phone interview Tuesday. He said California Superior Court Judge Emilie H. Elias looked over the 25 files in question in the current case, some of which overlap those sought as part of a $660 million settlement in 2007. He said she told attorneys on both sides that she would use the request as a "test case" and that if the appeals court is satisfied with what she was agreeing to release, that the same criteria would be used for the rest of the documents being sought. She said if the archdiocese's petition to keep the records sealed is denied, she would rapidly go through the rest of the documents in question.

Tod M. Tamberg, director of media relations for the Los Angeles archdiocese, disagrees with De Marco's assessment. The denial of the church's petition "does not affect release or publication of documents," he said in an email response to questions from NCR. "The issue was only whether certain materials could be disclosed to the plaintiff's lawyer in one specific case."

He said the court maintains the importance of preserving the privacy rights of the priests involved, who were not party to the current action. He said that guarding those rights, "while the extent of their protection is still the subject of litigation, constitutes an overriding interest that overcomes the right of public access to the documents." Tamberg further argued that the materials to be turned over to De Marco will be "subject to a protective order" and sealed in the public record.

De Marco responded that once the documents are introduced at trial, they become part of the public record and are available for public scrutiny. He also disagreed with Tamberg, saying that in every instance in which a judge has been asked to rule on whether the documents should be made public, the public interest has outweighed the right to privacy and the judges have ruled for disclosure, with redactions of names of some individuals and agencies to protect privacy.
The ruling that these documents "can be produced to someone other than the church," De Marco said, means "they are no longer going to be secret."

When the archdiocese, under since-retired Cardinal Roger Mahony, agreed to the historic settlement with 508 plaintiffs alleging abuse by more than 150 priests, the church agreed to a process that would ultimately release thousands of pages of documentation. Some of the plaintiffs agreed to the mass settlement -- which allowed the archdiocese to avoid court procedures that would have involved lengthy discoveries and would have placed Mahony on the witness stand -- because the agreement included release of the personnel files. At the time of the settlement in August 2007, the church had already fought the release of the documents for four years.
Five years after that settlement, the documents remain under seal, but De Marco believes they may soon be released.

The process has dragged on for this long partly because the court required that a retired judge look through all the documentation to decide what could be made public and when. The first judge to take on the job ultimately recused himself, setting back the process.
The archdiocese has also used every legal maneuver at its disposal to fight full disclosure.

According to an April 28 report in the Los Angeles Times, retired Federal Judge Dickran Tevrizian had ruled more than a year ago that "the personnel files should be released, but with the names of church officials who dealt with the abuse claims blacked out. Victims cried foul, but Tevrizian said the church had reformed and did not deserve further scorn. Besides, the public can figure out who's responsible, he said."
The church has released thousands of documents in other cases in Southern California.
In October 2010, a judge ordered the release of some 10,000 documents relating to sexual abuse of children by priests in the San Diego diocese. The release was a provision of a settlement as ordered two years earlier by Elias.

The Orange diocese followed up a court-approved $100 million settlement in December 2004 with the release of more than 10,000 pages of documents showing how diocesan officials protected predator priests, harassed victims and their families, and stonewalled inquiries into their handling of abuse.
Another 8,500 pages of documents and files were obtained by plaintiffs in a settlement in 2006 with Franciscan priests and brothers in the Province of Santa Barbara.

The Franciscan order fought release of the documents through several levels of court before the California Supreme Court declined to review an appeals court decision and allowed the release of the documents.
In some instances, the Franciscan documents have been heavily redacted, with the name of superiors and other managers blacked out, but there remains a rather detailed picture of the abuse of children and the protection of abusers by Franciscan superiors over several decades. The documents now are available on the online depository BishopAccountability.org.

De Marco said it was the rationale used in arguing for release of the Franciscan documents that he employed in seeking release of the 25 files he requested for use in his current case. In his filing he said there was no substantial difference between the requests for the Franciscan files and the objections of the order, which were denied, and his request and the objections raised by the Los Angeles archdiocese. He believes that since the state supreme court has already ruled on the issues — and since Elias has spoken her intent to follow the lead of the appeals court, which rejected the archdiocese's petition to keep files secret -- full disclosure of documents sought in the 2007 settlement could occur by year's end.

Dag 43

netzwerkB Pressemitteilung 20. Juli 2012

Norbert Denef befindet sich im 43. Tag seines Hungerstreiks. Er setzt seinen Hungerstreik fort.
Sowohl die Wortlosigkeit der SPD am 13. Juni 2012 (siehe Pressemitteilung vom 11. Juli 2012 http://netzwerkb.org/2012/07/13/hungerstreik-tag-36-es-geht-um-unsere-kinder/) als auch die Ereignisse im Bundestag am 19. Juli 2012 (siehe Pressemitteilung vom 20. Juli 2012, http://netzwerkb.org/2012/07/20/netzwerkb-lehnt-die-beschneidung-von-kindern-aus-religiosen-motiven-als-gewalt-gegen-kinder-ab/) zeigen, dass die Politik auf grundlegende Verbesserungen in den Bereichen des Opferschutzes und des Kinderschutzes verzichtet. Die Parteien fürchten offenkundig die Macht der großen Institutionen.

Dag 40 Stockende Aufarbeitung: Die katholische Kirche und der Missbrauchsskandal

 

January 24, 2012

NDR Info 15.07.2012

BLICKPUNKT: DIESSEITS
Das Magazin aus Religion und Gesellschaft

Christian Pfeiffer und Werner Thissen auch für Aufhebung der Verjährungsfristen

Im Studio Michael Hollenbach

Auch Prof. Dr. Christian Pfeiffer, Leiter des Kriminologischen Forschungsinstituts Niedersachsen, plädiert für eine Aufhebung der Verjährungsfrist, weil die Betroffenen den Missbrauch oft jahrzehntelang verdrängen: “Das kann man diesen Menschen nicht vorwerfen, dass die Kraft dazu, sich zu entscheiden, hier in jungen Jahren nicht da ist. Dass oft Anstöße von außen, die zufällig kommen, eine Rolle spielen. Der Rechtsstaat bricht nicht zusammen, wenn wir aus guten Gründen hier eine Sonderregelung schaffen und Herrn Denefs Wunsch entsprechen.”
Auch der katholische Hamburger Erzbischof Werner Thissen wendet sich gegen eine Verjährung: “In den Opfern selbst verjährt das nie. Das bleibt lebendig. Das macht mir deutlich, dass es angezeigt ist über die Frage der Verjährung nachzudenken.”

NetzwerkB Netzwerk Betroffener von sexualisierter Gewalt

kriebeltje krabbeltje daar aangelopen

kwam in kindjes nekkie gekropen

Dr. Beate Merk:

Stopp dem sexuellen Missbrauch 

Auch im Strafrecht gilt mein besonderes Augenmerk dem Schutz der Kleinsten: Ein sexueller Übergriff fügt ihnen lebenslange psychische und physische Qualen zu. Es ist daher absolut inakzeptabel, dass der Raub einer Handtasche in jedem Fall als Verbrechen gilt, der sexuelle Missbrauch Minderjähriger aber nicht immer. Ich fordere hier ein klares Signal der Politik zugunsten der gepeinigten Kinder!

Längere Verjährungsfristen 

Missbrauchte Kinder durchleiden ein Martyrium, das nicht nur ihre Kindheit und Jugend zerstört, sondern sie ihr Leben lang belastet. Viele Opfer reagieren daher mit Verdrängung. Oftmals sind sie erst viele Jahre danach psychisch in der Lage, ihre Leidensgeschichte zu offenbaren und ihre Peiniger anzuzeigen.

Scheitern Schadensersatzansprüche und Verfolgung der Täter jedoch an der Verjährung, ist das ein Schlag ins Gesicht der Opfer.

Eine Verlängerung der Verjährungsfrist auf 30 Jahre im Zivil- und Strafrecht halte ich daher für längst überfällig und unabdingbar.

Missbrauch von Kindern liegt auch der Herstellung pornografischer Machwerke zugrunde. Für solche Bilder bzw. Filme darf es keinen Markt geben! Die Bekämpfung der Kinderpornografie muss daher forciert werden, sowohl strafrechtlich als auch präventiv. Das Internet und seine Schnelllebigkeit stellen hier eine erhebliche Herausforderung dar.

Redress

"

...


Bijlage: brief compensatiecommissie

Geachte heer XXXXX,

Ik heb onderstaande mailwisseling gelezen; we hebben elkaar recentelijk al gesproken over uw afschuwelijke verleden. Zoals de compensatiecommissie u schriftelijk heeft laten weten bent u definitief ingedeeld in categorie 5, hetgeen wil zeggen dat de compensatiecommissie in uw geval van mening is dat er sprake is geweest van zeer ernstig seksueel misbruik. Dat laat onverlet dat u de compensatiecommissie op grond van de regeling wel in staat moet stellen om de hoogte van het compensatiebedrag te kunnen bepalen:

De regeling zegt hierover:
Categorie 5
Artikel 19:
In alle gevallen van indeling in categorie 5 krijgt de aanvrager gelegenheid om de omvang van de door hem gestelde vermogensschade en het causaal verband met het seksueel misbruik zoals
dat blijkt uit het bewijs toe te lichten. Deze toelichting geschiedt in beginsel schriftelijk. De betrokken R.-K. instelling wordt gelegenheid gegeven tot verweer.

Artikel 20:
In alle gevallen van indeling in categorie 5 kan de Compensatiecommissie verlangen dat de aanvrager zich onderwerpt aan medische of psychologische expertise door deskundigen als door de
Compensatiecommissie aangewezen. De kosten van deze expertise worden voorgeschoten door de Compensatiecommissie en komen ten laste van de betrokken R.-K. instelling.

Artikel 21:
In geval de Compensatiecommissie binnen een categorie 5 procedure een verschijning van partijen verlangt ter zitting, bepaalt de Compensatiecommissie voor die zitting locatie, datum en
tijdstip. De datum en het tijdstip worden zoveel mogelijk vastgesteld na overleg met de aanvrager en betrokken R.-K. instelling. Een zitting kan worden bijgewoond door een externe deskundige aangesteld door de Compensatiecommissie. Orde en verloop van de zitting worden door de Compensatiecommissie bepaald.

Artikel 22:
In alle gevallen van een definitieve indeling in categorie 5 komen de redelijke kosten van rechtsbijstand van de aanvrager gemaakt in de procedure ten overstaan van de
Compensatiecommissie voor vergoeding door de betrokken R.-K. instelling in aanmerking, tot een maximum gelijk aan 15% van de toe te wijzen compensatie.

Met het indienen van de aanvraag heeft u verklaard met de inhoud van de compensatieregeling akkoord te gaan. Hoewel ik mij uw aarzeling goed begrijp om aan het verzoek van de compensatiecommissie in deze te voldoen, raad ik u toch in uw eigen belang aan om samen met uw juridisch adviseur de gevraagde onderbouwing zo compleet mogelijk aan te leveren.

Met vriendelijke groeten,  "
 

Abdij Mehrerau „Für mich war es auch selbstverständlich für das Opfer sämtliche entstehende Fahrtkosten zu übernehmen"

Bei der Einrichtung der (Klasnic-)Kommission ging es darum„Opfern möglicher Weise jahrelange juristische Auseinandersetzungen und Prozesse mit psychiatrischen Begutachtungen und unsicherem Ausgang zu ersparen. Zudem müssen im österreichischen Rechtssystem die Kläger bei Einbringung einer Klage, sofern sie keine Verfahrenshilfe erhalten, Gerichtsgebühren in beträchtlicher Höhe hinterlegen.“

Der heute 57-Jährige war in den 1960er-Jahren von einem Geistlichen mehrfach vergewaltigt worden. Die Klage auf Schmerzensgeld und Verdienstentgang ist die erste zivilrechtliche Klage eines Missbrauchsopfers, strafrechtliche Verfahren gegen den von mehreren Männern beschuldigten Geistlichen waren wegen Verjährung eingestellt worden.

Sanyai Doshi, der Anwalt des Klägers, sah das Kloster in der moralischen Pflicht, keinen Verjährungseinwand zu erheben und damit das Verfahren zu ermöglichen. Abt Anselm van der Linde verweist das Opfer in einer Aussendung jedoch, wie bereits vor der Klage, an die Klasnic-Kommission. Das Kloster sei nicht bereit, die Haftung für vorsätzliche Taten eines Ordensmitglieds zu übernehmen. In die Opferschutzkommission flossen bisher, so Pressesprecher Harald Schiffl, rund 200.000 Euro aus der Mehrerau.

B. "der vielleicht 20, 30 oder mehr Kinder missbraucht hat" war bereits 1967 einschlägig verurteilt worden, dennoch blieb er Lehrer und Erzieher. 1982, nach Bekanntwerden eines weiteren sexuellen Übergriffs, wurde er versetzt. B. arbeitete dann in Tirol als Pfarrer - auch mit Kindern.

Der Abt habe von nichts gewusst
" Unglaubwürdig", sagt der ehemalige Mehrerauer Philipp Schwärzler , der Psychologe arbeitet seit zwei Jahren für die unabhängige "Hotline für Betroffene kirchlicher Gewalt".
Das würde bedeuten, dass Altabt Kassian Lauterer seinen Nachfolger nicht über die Missbrauchsfälle informiert hätte.

....> artikel Jutta Berger, DER STANDARD, Printausgabe, 22.2.2012

PRESSEINFORMATION

(Bregenz, 21.02.2012) Die Abtei Mehrerau hat gestern, 20.02.2012, fristgerecht die Beantwortung der Klage eines Opfers von sexuellem Missbrauch bei Gericht eingebracht.
Generell stellt Abt Anselm van der Linde dazu fest: „Um den Opfern des oft jahrzehntelang zurückliegenden und dadurch juristisch verjährten Missbrauchs auf alle Fälle eine Entschädigungszahlung zu ermöglichen, wurde von der Bischofskonferenz die Opferschutzkommission eingerichtet. Dort werden Opfer unabhängig, sensibel und diskret beraten und unterstützt. Und es werden in möglichst kurzer Zeit Entschädigungen und Therapiekosten ausbezahlt.“

Kloster nimmt seine Verantwortung wahr

Abt Anselm verweist darauf, dass die Opferschutzkommission nach dem Verursacherprinzip verfährt und die zugesprochenen Entschädigungssummen von den Tätern bzw. den Diözesen, Organisationen oder Orden an die Kommission refundiert werden müssen. „Wir nehmen auch in dieser Hinsicht unsere Verantwortung wahr und sorgen für Entschädigung der Opfer.“
Bei der Einrichtung der Kommission ging es darum „Opfern möglicher Weise jahrelange juristische Auseinandersetzungen und Prozesse mit psychiatrischen Begutachtungen und unsicherem Ausgang zu ersparen. Zudem müssen im österreichischen Rechtssystem die Kläger bei Einbringung einer Klage, sofern sie keine Verfahrenshilfe erhalten, Gerichtsgebühren in beträchtlicher Höhe hinterlegen.“
Die Opferschutzkommission wurde auch eingerichtet, dass Opfer und ihre Perspektive und ihr Leiden nicht mehr ausgeblendet werden.
Seit 2010 Kontakt mit dem Opfer – intensiver Rat sich an die Opferschutzkommission zu wenden

Seit 2010 gab es von Seiten des Klosters mit dem Opfer mehrfach Kontakt. „Ich habe in einem persönlichen Gespräch und auch schriftlich meine tiefe Betroffenheit über das Leid, das dem Opfer angetan wurde, zum Ausdruck gebracht und, sofern dies möglich ist, um Vergebung gebeten,“ so Abt Anselm, der berichtet, dass er dem Opfer eindringlich und intensiv empfohlen hat, sich direkt an die Opferschutzkommission zu wenden. Abt Anselm: „Für mich war es auch selbstverständlich für das Opfer sämtliche entstehende Fahrtkosten zu übernehmen. Mein Wunsch war, dass ihm bei der Kommission rasch, verantwortungsvoll und unbürokratisch geholfen wird. Dieser Weg steht dem Opfer über die Ombudsstelle in Feldkirch immer noch offen.“

In der Klagebeantwortung wird festgestellt, dass keine Haftung des Klosters nach § 1313a ABGB für vorsätzliches Handeln einzelner Mitglieder besteht und die Taten aus juristischer Sicht verjährt sind.

Anselm van der Linde
Abt von Wettingen-Mehrerau

L’Eglise face à la pédophilie

don't bite the hand that feeds you

Been there, got the t-shirt

La Croix
9-2-2012

L’Eglise face à la pédophilie

Bousculé depuis une dizaine d’années par des affaires pédophiles, le Vatican a mis concrètement l’accent sur la parole des victimes à l’occasion d’un colloque organisé début février 2012 à Rome, où une célébration pénitentielle inédite a été organisée en présence de certaines d’entre elles.

Des Etats-Unis à l’ Irlande, en passant par la Belgique où l’Allemagne, ces affaires d’abus sexuels n’ont épargné ni le clergé diocésain ni les congrégations religieuses, notamment les Légionnaires du Christ, ou la communauté des Béatitudes, dont l’un des membres a été condamné à cinq ans de prison en décembre 2011 par le tribunal correctionnel de Rodez.

A plusieurs reprises, Benoît XVI a condamné fermement les manquements des prêtres coupables d’abus sexuels. De même, les normes du Saint-Siège en matière de pédophilie ont été durcies, avec l’introduction de procédures accélérées pour les cas les plus graves, l’augmentation de dix ans la durée de la prescription et l’assimilation des abus sexuels sur des handicapés mentaux à de la pédophilie.


Les documents officiels du Vatican
- Lettre aux évêques du Cardinal Levada sur le traitement des questions de pédophilie
- Homélie et saluts de Benoît XVI à la cathédrale de Westminster
- Nouvelles normes du Saint-Siège concernant la pédophilie
- Lettre pastorale de Benoît XVI aux catholiques d'Irlande


Des cas dans l’Eglise de France
- Cinq ans de prison pour Pierre-Étienne Albert
- Le procès d’un ancien membre des Béatitudes interpelle l’Eglise
- Les évêques actualisent leurs repères pour «lutter contre la pédophilie»
- Comment les catholiques de France affrontent la crise pédophile

Les scandales en Belgique
- La justice a perquisitionné cinq évêchés belges
- Les Églises belges et néerlandaises mises devant leurs responsabilités face au drame de la pédophilie
- Meurtrie et divisée, l'Église belge cherche des réponses à la crise
- Benoît XVI encourage l'Eglise belge « éprouvée par le péché »

Le traumatisme irlandais
- Un rapport critique la gestion des cas de pédophilie par la hiérarchie catholique irlandaise
- Le pape exprime sa « honte » et son « remords » pour les prêtres pédophiles
- Le pape encourage les évêques irlandais à rétablir «la crédibilité de l'Église»
- Le Vatican fait preuve de fermeté face aux évêques d'Irlande
- En colère, les catholiques irlandais réclament une réforme de l'Église

Des prises de position
-Mgr Philippe Barbarin : «Ce choc est déstabilisant, mais sera profitable
-Jacques Arenes : «La pédophilie n'est pas d'abord une question d'homosexualité ou d'hétérosexualité
-Mgr Scicluna : "L'Eglise est rigoureuse sur la pédophilie"
- Si l'Eglise pouvait se saisir des scandales pour s'interroger sur certains de ses fonctionnements…
-Manfred Lütz, psychiatre allemand : « La banalisation des abus sexuels sur mineurs est notre faute à tous »

'66

Article 17

1. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his honour and reputation.

2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Article 18

1. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching.

2. No one shall be subject to coercion which would impair his freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice.

3. Freedom to manifest one's religion or beliefs may be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary to protect public safety, order, health, or morals or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others.

4. The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to have respect for the liberty of parents and, when applicable, legal guardians to ensure the religious and moral education of their children in conformity with their own convictions.

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

Adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI)
of 16 December 1966

entry into force 23 March 1976 (Article 49)

Netherlands Sign 25 Jun 1969 - Rat. 11 Dec 1978

United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 993

Norbert Denef 's NetzwerkBetroffener von sexualiesierter Gewalt will sich abschaffen

NetzwerkB

Stand: 20.01.2012
Bundeskinderschutzgesetz

Stellungnahme zum neuen Bundeskinderschutzgesetz und zur Anzeigenpflicht

Das neue Bundeskinderschutzgesetz hat lange auf sich warten lassen. Was letztlich nun nach jahrelanger Debatte herausgekommen ist, weist immer noch den mangelnden Willen zur Aufarbeitung sexualisierter Gewalt bei Kindern auf. Als Beispiel hierfür können die Resultate des Gesetzes für behinderte Kinder betrachtet werden. Statt einer ursprünglich angedachten Meldepflicht bei Verdachtsfällen auf Kindesgefährdung gibt es nun eine Art Empfehlung, Beratung bei einer unabhängigen Fachkraft des Jugendamtes anzunehmen. Die Paragraphen, die eine Verpflichtung zum Handeln vorsahen, sind nach endlosen Beratungen und Überarbeitungen schlicht weggelassen und zu einer unverbindlichen Gesetzesformel aufgeweicht worden. Grundsätzliche Probleme beim Kinderschutz geht der Gesetzgeber mit dem pompös klingenden Bundeskinderschutzgesetz nicht an. Vielmehr bleibt die notwendige Verantwortungsübernahme des Staates, seiner Institutionen und Mitarbeiter aus. Jeder, der daher von Straftaten in Institutionen weiß, ist nicht gleichzeitig verpflichtet, Verdachtsfälle zu melden. Dies begünstigt By-Stander-Effekte, dem tatenlosen Zusehen, da jeder hofft, ein anderer greift ein. Das neue Gesetz entpuppt sich somit nicht nur als zahnloser Tiger, sondern erweist sich als Täterschutz, welches Sozialstrukturen, die sexualisierte Gewalt ermöglichen, weiterhin begünstigt.

Opferverbände sprechen sich am Runden Tisch gegen eine Meldepflicht aus

Unserer Ansicht sind diese untragbare Nachlässigkeiten auch auf ungünstige, soziale Prozesse zurückzuführen. Auffällig ist so zum Beispiel, dass vor allem Opferverbände sich gegen eine Meldepflicht bei sexualisierter Gewalt aussprechen. Nach ihrer Argumentation würde das abzusehende Chaos einer Meldepflicht das Vertrauen in viele Institutionen beschädigen und letztlich für Kinder die Situation zunächst verschlimmern. Wie hingegen glauben: Das bevorstehende Chaos ist ein notwendiges Chaos, um eingewachsene und falsche Strukturen zu beseitigen. Dieses betrifft auch die Restrukturierung gegenwärtiger Opferverbände. Hierin aber zeigt sich sogleich das soziale Dilemma: Opferschutzorganisation können ab einem gewissen Punkt ihrer Integration in politische Prozesse nicht mehr das Richtige fordern, da sie so gezwungen wären gegen sich selbst zu arbeiten. So wäre beispielsweise eine zentrale Organisation von Nöten (dies könnte ein reformiertes Jugendamt sein), das bevorstehende Chaos in den Griff zu bekommen. Damit jedoch müssten regionale Strukturen aufgebrochen werden und es würden schließlich Aufgabenbereiche regionaler Opfervereine in Frage gestellt werden. Unglücklicherweise geht es auch hier um Geld. Zusammenarbeit zwischen den Behörden, wie es bei anderen Vergehen und Verbrechen Gang und Gäbe ist, wird hier also verhindert, obwohl diese unumgänglich ist, so darf beispielsweise ein Betroffener nicht vom Glück einer guten Institutionenstruktur in seiner Stadt oder seinem Bundesland abhängig sein. Dies bedeutet aber schmerzhafte Umstrukturierungen für Opferschutzverbände.

Gefährdung der Betroffenenvereine

Ein radikales Umdenken gefährdet also die sozialen Vereine in ihrem Bestand und ihrer Legitimation. Zusammenarbeit müsste vereinbart werden, Menschen müssten sich in erster Linie verstehen wollen und auch bereit sein, aufgrund der Neuaufteilung von Arbeitsbereichen ihren Arbeitsplatz für die Sache aufzugeben. Dieses soziale Dilemma ist sicher ein Grund, warum wirtschaftlich abhängige Vereine für radikales Denken nicht eintreten können. Die Gründe dafür, dass eine Meldepflicht nicht in Angriff genommen wird, sind daher auch immer in ungünstigen Sozialstrukturen zu suchen.

netzwerkB will mehr als nur eine Meldepflicht

Kann das zu erwartende Chaos also zentrales Argument sein, warum eine Meldepflicht in Deutschland nicht existieren darf? Wenn klar ist, dass zehntausende Kinder in Deutschland unter unhaltbaren Bedingungen groß werden, dann muss sich etwas ändern. Bei netzwerkB als wirtschaftlich ungebunden Verein ist die Position daher eindeutig: Wenn nicht heute radikale Korrekturen stattfinden, so werden wir die Situation noch in 100 Jahren vor uns herschieben. Nicht das Chaos einer Restrukturierung der Verantwortungsbereiche ist das Problem, sondern die gegenwärtigen nebulösen Verantwortungsbereiche und das Fortbestehen der Katastrophe. Um diese Strukturen zu beseitigen und Kriminalität zu verhindern, brauchen wir daher nicht nur eine Meldepflicht, sondern müssen mit der bisherigen Politik der Verschlimmbesserung noch radikaler brechen. Das heißt: Wir brauchen eine Anzeigenpflicht. Institutionen und Arbeitgeber würden folglich in die Pflicht genommen werden und müssten sich eindeutige Strategien für ihr Handeln überlegen, denn andernfalls machen sie sich strafbar. Weil sexualisierte Gewalt nicht allein im Verborgenen stattfindet, sondern oftmals viele Mitwisser hat, besteht die berechtigte Hoffnung, dass sich mit einer Anzeigenpflicht grundsätzlich Änderung einstellt. Anstatt also das Problem noch Jahrhunderte vor uns herzuschieben, müssen wir das entstehende Chaos zunächst in Kauf nehmen, um klar einzusehen, was in Deutschland tatsächlich der Fall ist. Unsere Kinder sind vielfach sexualisierter Gewalt ausgesetzt. Die entstehenden Mehrkosten für die Umwälzung muss ein Sozialstaat, der für das Gerechte eintritt, in Kauf nehmen, denn allein so bekommen gerade die Mitglieder unserer Gesellschaft, die sich selbst nicht wehren können, eine Chance auf freie Entwicklung der Persönlichkeit. Alternativen zu diesem Anspruch gibt es nicht.

•Versicherungspflicht der Institutionen
An dieser Stelle denken wir bei netzwerkB darüber hinaus auch eine Versicherungspflicht derartiger Institutionen an, um die Sicherheit der Kinder auch monetär verpflichtend und messbar zu machen. Diese Versicherungspflicht besteht bereits in den USA, hat es aber wegen der vielen Versäumnisse im Umgang mit sexualisierter Gewalt in Deutschland noch nicht gegeben.
Konsequenzen der Anzeigenpflicht

Mit der Einführung einer Anzeigenpflicht sind verschiedene Konsequenzen verbunden. Viele Formen der Vertuschung, wie wir es über viele Jahrzehnte erlebt haben, werden der Vergangenheit angehören. Letztlich aber würde eine derart grundlegende und fortwährende Restrukturierung auch bedeuten, dass mittelfristig Opferschutzorganisationen ihre Aufgabenbereiche verlieren, was zugleich ihre Legitimation gefährdet. Wenn Betroffene sogleich von den Tätern befreit werden und somit Therapien schnell greifen können, wird es auch nach und nach weniger Tätigkeitsfelder für diese Vereine geben.

netzwerkB will sich abschaffen

Es ist ein soziales Dilemma, dass sobald Opferschutzorgansiationen entstehen, diese im Kampf um Gelder ihre Positionen oftmals kontraproduktiv verteidigen müssen. So bedingen soziale Strukturen, dass grundlegende Strukturreformen ausbleiben. Der eigentliche Skandal aber ist nicht, dass eine fortwährende Debatte um die Opferschutzorganisationen besteht, sondern dass es Opferschutzorganisationen überhaupt geben muss. Ziel einer Opferschutzorganisation kann daher nicht ihr Bestand sein, sondern ursprüngliches Ziel einer Opferschutzorganisation muss sein, dass es sie irgendwann nicht mehr gibt. Die Probleme müssen nicht symptomatisch behandelt werden, wie es nach gegenwärtiger Gesetzeslage geschehen soll, sondern müssen ihrem Grund nach gelöst werden. Jene Herangehensweise verlangt aber auch radikal nicht allein den eigenen Posten zu verteidigen. Aus diesem Grund bewahrt sich netzwerkB seine finanzielle Unabhängigkeit und tritt vor allem dafür ein, dass es uns in 50 Jahren nicht mehr gibt. Die Abschaffung der Verjährungsfristen und die Einführung einer Anzeigenpflicht sind die ersten Schritte dorthin.

Helfen Sie mit bei der Abschaffung von netzwerkB, treten Sie unserem Verein bei oder bewerben Sie sich bei uns als ehrenamtlicher Mitarbeiter. E-Mail hierzu bitte an info@netzwerkB.org

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Weitere Positionspapiere von netzwerkB

Ihre Meinung, konstruktive oder kritische Anmerkungen sind erwünscht. Bitte Mitteilung an info [at] netzwerkb.org

•Was kritisieren wir am Ausdruck „Missbrauch“?
•Was kritisieren wir am Begriff „Opfer“ bzw. am Umgang damit?
•Was kritisieren wir am Ausdruck „Pädophilie“?
•Warum sprechen wir von „Überlebenden“?
•Warum sprechen wir von „Seelenmord“?
•Wer sind die Täter?
•Entschädigung
•Verjährungsfristen
•Gesetzentwurf Verjährungsfristen aufheben
•Rückwirkungsverbot
•Engagement
•Bundeskinderschutzgesetz
•Mythos der Vergebung