BishopAccountability.org
	German Bishop Accused of Spanking Orphans Says Church Is Sad Earth Times April 4, 2010 http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/317069,german-bishop-accused-of-spanking-orphans-says-church-is-sad.html GERMANY -- A German bishop who has denied accusations that he spanked orphans 30 years ago said Sunday the whole Catholic Church was in sadness over recent revelations of sex abuse by priests. Walter Mixa made no reference in his Easter Sunday sermon in his own cathedral in Augsburg to allegations by six adults that he slapped, spanked or struck them while they were in an orphanage run by nuns, before Bavaria state outlawed corporal punishment in 1980. He condemned the sex abuse, saying it had caused lasting damage to "the littlest ones of all." All those responsible must turn away from sin. "People have to be willing to change their minds," he said. He said the church in Germany had to make a fresh start. Recalling last month's meeting of the 27 bishops, he said, "It was like a leaden blanket on the bishops' conference. The whole church is sad." Separately, in a news interview published Sunday, Mixa said his own conscience was clear and claims that he hit children were untrue. "The accusations sadden me," he told the Sunday newspaper Bild am Sonntag, adding that violence and the Catholic priesthood were incompatible things. "A priest has to be non-violent. I have always stuck to that," he said. The accusers claim the orphanage nuns in the town of Schrobenhausen asked Mixa, who was parish priest from 1975 to 1996, to physically discipline children. Mixa told the newspaper he had never been hit by his own parents when he was a child. After his Sunday sermon, Catholic worshippers in Ausburg were mixed in their reactions. "I came to church to celebrate Easter, not to discuss cases of abuse," said one man, Reinhold Walter, adding that corporal punishment had been the norm decades ago. An Augsburg woman, Elisabeth Schmidt, said, "I wish he had responded to the personal matter, even if it was only in one sentence, but at least he spoke generally about the abuse cases." In the northern German city of Muenster, police said meanwhile that a man, 44, had invaded an Easter service late Saturday. The man, who had a history of mental trouble, used a one-metre wooden stick to knock over a large Easter candle which had just been blessed by Bishop Felix Genn. Worshippers manhandled him away.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.