German Schools Angry over Church Abuse Scandal, Verena Schmitt-roschmann, The Associated Press, March 11, 2010

German Schools Angry over Church Abuse Scandal

By Verena Schmitt-roschmann
The Associated Press
March 11, 2010

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g3MivbAtM9SmQ1YrsrNk9Jk1DQPwD9ECH56G1

Georg Ratzinger, 86, brother of Pope Benedict XVI, walks in front of the house he is living in in Regensburg, southern Germany, on Wednesday, March 10, 2010. The pope's brother said in an newspaper interview published Tuesday that he slapped pupils as punishment after he took over a renowned German boys' choir in the 1960s.
Photo by Jens Meyer

BERLIN — German educators sharply criticized Roman Catholic church officials on Thursday for their handling of a spiraling child abuse scandal — comments that came a day before the country's highest bishop was to meet Pope Benedict XVI in Rome.

Germany's top education representative, Ludwig Spaenle, said the church failed to report cases of physical and sexual abuse in a timely fashion.

Georg Ratzinger, 86, brother of Pope Benedict XVI, walks in front of his dwelling house in Regensburg, southern Germany, on Wednesday, March 10, 2010. The pope's brother said in an newspaper interview published Tuesday that he slapped pupils as punishment after he took over a renowned German boys' choir in the 1960s.
Photo by Jens Meyer

"We have seen, unfortunately, that internal church guidelines as well as school authority directives to report criminal offenses instantly have been circumvented," Spaenle, who is president of Germany's 16 education ministers, was quoted as saying by the Passauer Neue Presse newspaper.

Church officials need to put "everything on the table," he said.

Spaenle and his colleagues set up a task force to come up with a new strategy against sexual abuse in schools.

"For us there is 'zero tolerance' for the perpetrators," he said in a statement Thursday.

The spokesman of the diocese Regensburg Clemens Neck is seen in front of a painting showing Pope John Paul II in Regensburg, southern Germany, on Wednesday, March 10, 2010. The Roman Catholic diocese of Regensburg in southern Germany said it appointed an independent investigator to examine the allegations of physical and sexual abuse that have engulfed the prestigious Regensburger Domspatzen boys choir, which was led by the Rev. Georg Ratzinger, the pope's older brother, from 1964 until 1994. So far, the sexual abuse allegations predate Ratzinger's term.
Photo by Jens Meyer

The pope has not commented personally on the German scandal, in which at least 170 former students from Catholic schools have come forward with claims of sexual abuse and others have spoken of physical abuse.

Benedict is to meet the head of Germany's bishop's conference, Robert Zollitsch, at the Vatican on Friday.

Petra Dorsch-Jungsberger, a former Munich communications professor who specializes in church matters, said everyone in Germany was waiting for the pope come forward and offer guidance. She said Benedict might be facing the greatest moral issue for the Roman Catholic Church since World War II.

FILE - In this Sept. 13, 2006 file picture Pope Benedict XVI, right, walks with his brother priest Georg Ratzinger in Regensburg, southern Germany. The pope's brother says in a newspaper interview that he slapped pupils across the face after he took over a renowned German boys' choir in the 1960s. He also says he was aware of allegations of physical abuse at an elementary school linked to the choir, but did nothing about it. In an interview with the Passauer Neue Presse published Tuesday March 9, 2010 , he said "repeatedly administered a slap in the face" to pupils at the Regensburger Domspatzen boys choir. He says it was common then and he stopped after Germany banned corporal punishment in 1980.
Photo by Diether Endliche

"He is standing with his back against the wall," Dorsch-Jungsberger told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

The Roman Catholic Church has been hit by years of sexual abuse claims in the United States, Canada, Ireland, Australia and other countries. Yet the German abuse allegations are particularly sensitive because Germany is the pope's homeland and because some of the scandals involve the choir that the pope's brother, the Rev. Georg Ratzinger, led for 30 years.

Dorsch-Jungsberger said it's likely that more details will emerge about the abuse cases in Germany.

"This issue is not at its end by a long shot," she said. "We can expect a few surprises."

FILE - Georg Ratzinger, brother of Pope Benedict XVI, gives interviews in Regensburg, southern Germany, in this April 20, 2005 file photo. Scandals over sexual abuse by Catholic clergy of minors and cover-ups by church hierarchy have exploded in recent months in countries including Ireland, Germany and the Netherlands. The German abuse allegations are particularly sensitive because Germany is the homeland of Pope Benedict XVI and because the scandals involve a prestigious choir that was led by the pope's brother, Georg. Asked in an interview Tuesday March 9, 2010 whether he knew of the allegations when he took over as head of the choir in 1964, Ratzinger insisted he was not aware of the problem. "These things were never discussed," Ratzinger told Tuesday's Passauer Neue Presse German daily.
Photo by Uwe Lein