BishopAccountability.org
	German Bishops Beg Forgiveness for Sex Abuse by Priests Earth Times March 29, 2010 http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316324,german-bishops-beg-forgiveness-for-sex-abuse-by-priests.html Berlin - Several Catholic bishops in Germany begged for forgiveness Monday for past sex abuse by paedophile priests, saying the hundreds of cases were a "shocking" judgement on the church. For days, as the scandal has widened in Germany and the United States, bishops have been issuing previously unpublished tallies of molestation in the period from 1950 to 1990, and reporting more recent cases to police. As hundreds of priests listened in his cathedral in Muenster, bishop Felix Genn asked victims for forgiveness for these "appalling attacks" and said the church had suffered major damage and lost face. Bishop Gebhard Fuerst of Rottenburg led prayers of penitence in his cathedral, saying, "The structures of our church allowed this to be kept out of sight and our leaders to carelessly ignore guilt." He said the church had to learn to be alert to prevent molestation happening again. Some Germans have decided to formally resign from the church because of the scandal. Officials in the metropolis of Munich said they had received 1,339 formal resignations in the period March 1-26, sharply up from the 941 who had resigned in March 2009. Typical of the rush of new cases was a complaint in the central town of Fulda that a priest had groped a young girl in a church office in 2000. Police said they had opened an investigation. Germany's 27 bishops have appointed Stephan Ackermann, bishop of Trier, to investigate a stream of new complaints about sex abuse. Trier diocese said Monday a total of 20 of its own priests had molested children in the period 1950-90. Of that number, 10 men were now dead, but two would be reported to police, although the incidents had happened more than 20 years ago. Ackermann appealed to German Catholics to report all abuse to him, promising to investigate every case.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.