BONN (GERMANY)
Catholic News Service via Crux
January 28, 2020
German bishops urged patience toward their efforts to deal with the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church in Germany.
The German Catholic news agency KNA reported the bishops’ meeting in Wurzburg said the plans that resulted from the latest investigations needed time. Their appeal came 10 years since the first revelations of the abuse emerged.
“We need this time and we hope for understanding; we will not be absolving ourselves from the responsibility,” they said Jan. 28.
In specific terms, KNA reported, the bishops called for a “binding, supradiocesan monitoring of the areas of investigation, intervention and prevention” as well as standardized personnel files of clergy and the ongoing development of material compensation.
Last September, a working group had proposed two models regarding compensation: Either a lump sum of 300,000 euros (US$330,000) per victim, or a graduated procedure calling, depending on the seriousness of each case, for compensation of 40,000 to 400,000 euros.
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