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	Abuse Victims Should Feel Free to Speak Up, German Catholic Archbishop Says By George Frey and Melissa Eddy Fort Worth Star-Telegram March 19, 2010 http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/03/18/2051245/abuse-victims-should-feel-free.html BAD STAFFELSTEIN, Germany -- A prominent archbishop called Thursday for justice for sexual-abuse victims in Germany's Roman Catholic Church, saying they need to feel that they can finally speak openly about their suffering. Reinhard Marx, the archbishop of Munich and Freising, said Catholic bishops in the southern German state of Bavaria -- the homeland of Pope Benedict XVI -- felt "deep consternation and shame" over the reports in past weeks of abuse of children in church-run schools and institutions. "The priority is the search for the truth and achieving an open atmosphere that will give the victims courage to speak about what happened to them," Marx told reporters after a meeting with Bavarian bishops. Marx said the bishops agreed to investigate each claim and will contact authorities in cases of suspected sexual or physical abuse. The German church continues to grapple with the magnitude of abuse claims. In Ireland, which has been shaken by an even wider crisis over child abuse, a Catholic bishop ordered a priest Thursday to remain silent about his views that church officials should not tell police about child abusers within the priesthood. Bishop Dermot Clifford said Monsignor Maurice Dooley, an expert in Catholic canon law, must not speak publicly again about his understanding of the church's rules on confidentiality. "I want to state that all concerns that come to light are reported fully ... to the state authorities," Clifford said. Dooley has repeatedly spoken out in defense of Irish Cardinal Sean Brady, a former classmate who is facing pressure to resign because he failed to tell police about his knowledge of one of Ireland's worst pedophiles. Victims in Austria and the Netherlands have also come forward with abuse claims, deepening a crisis in the church and leading to charges that the pontiff is avoiding comment on the issue. "If the pope himself doesn't take a stance, apologize for what Rome has committed over the past decades in terms of cover-up, then our believers will become even more disappointed than they already are," said the Rev. Udo Fischer, who heads a parish in the Lower Austrian village of Paudorf. "Jesus would certainly not have kept quiet," Fischer said.
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