Regensburg Boys’ Choir: Thousand-year History Now Stained by Scandal

Malay Mail Online
July 19, 2017

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/features/article/regensburg-boys-choir-thousand-year-history-now-stained-by-scandal

A mass is celebrated by Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Muller 20 April 2005 at Regensburg’s church a day after a German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was proclaimed the 265th Pope of the Roman Catholic church 19 April. — AFP pic

The Regensburg Boys Choir has a proud history dating back more than a thousand years, but now finds its reputation tarnished by revelations that hundreds of its young charges suffered physical or sexual abuse.

One of the oldest choirs in continuous existence in the world, it traces its roots back to the year 975, when Bishop Wolfgang of Regensburg set up a cathedral school in the Bavarian town whose pupils were charged with singing the liturgy.

The pupils — only boys and young men are admitted — are called “Domspatzen”, meaning “Cathedral Sparrows.”

The institution comprises a Catholic boarding school and a secondary school where a heavy focus is on learning music.

It has a current enrolment of 320, half of whom live in the boarding school, which has a reputation for tough discipline.

In the 20th century the choir gained worldwide renown, making foreign tours and staging concerts in St Peter’s basilica in Rome

Two choirmasters were behind this expansion — Theobald Schrems, in office for 39 years until his death in 1963, and Georg Ratzinger, from 1964 to 1994.

Ratzinger, now aged 93, is the older brother of Joseph Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict XVI.

A final report into abuse at the school, issued yesterday, found that between 1945 and the early 1999s, 547 boys had suffered physical or sexual violence.

It criticised senior church figures for failing to do enough to prevent the abuse, including Ratzinger.

It also accused Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, 69, the former bishop of Regensburg, of dragging his feet in investigating the scandal. — AFP