KANSAS CITY (MO)
Catholic News Service via Global Sisters Report
May 24, 2019
Catholic religious orders in Germany have set up an inquiry into sexual abuse in their monasteries and convents, following claims that abuse occurred in more than half of all monastic communities.
“We still don’t know enough about what happened and is happening in each community, since models of action and prevention are all different,” Franciscan Sr. Katharina Kluitmann, chairwoman of the German Orders Conference, said in a May 22 statement to the organization’s general meeting in Vallendar.
“Although our path has taken on a clear momentum, we haven’t reached our destination. But we have found certain landmarks — and the most important is this isn’t about us, but about those affected.”
The 55-year-old nun said the inquiry, to be published in early 2020, had been approved unanimously by 200 order leaders at the meeting. She said the inquiry would collect data on victims, prosecution reports, compensation payments and personal files.
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