Swiss bishops want to shed light on clergy sex abuse

WEST MELBOURNE (AUSTRALIA)
La Croix International [France]

April 7, 2022

By Christophe Henning

The Catholic bishops of Switzerland have commissioned two academics to scour diocesan archives in preparation for an independent investigation into the sexual abuse of minors

The Catholic bishops of Switzerland have pledged to open up the secret archives of all six of their dioceses in order to shed light on sexual abuse perpetrated by priests.

The Church leaders made the announcement this past Monday, nearly a year after they first committed themselves to carry out an investigation.

“Many acts have been covered up and victims ignored,” admitted Bishop Joseph Bonnemain of Chur, who is chair of the abuse commission in the Swiss Bishops’ Conference (SBC).

Speaking at a press conference, the 73-year-old bishop said the goal is “to make the Church a learning organization, ready to recognize its own mistakes”.

On hand for the announcement were the Roman Catholic Central Conference of Switzerland (RKZ), which is responsible for the material life of the Church, and the Conference of Unions of Religious Orders and Other Communities of Consecrated Life in Switzerland (KOVOS).

University survey

The bishops’ announced that they have appointed Monika Dommann and Marietta Meier, both history professors at the University of Zurich, to carry out a preliminary, year-long investigation into the diocesan archives.

Their task is to “evaluate the general conditions for a historical study of sexual abuse in the ecclesial context since the middle of the 20th century and thus provide a basis for other research projects”.

They will also begin interviewing victims in May.

The two academics will be given full access to the archives of dioceses and religious congregations, being allowed to work in ways similar to that carried out by the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CIASE) in France.

They will be assisted by an independent scientific committee, appointed by the Swiss Historical Society (SHH).

The group will be chaired by historian Sandro Guzzi-Heeb, and will be made up of six academic experts, including canonist Astrid Kaptijn of the University of Fribourg, who was a member of CIASE.

“Shedding light without seeking to protect its own reputation”

Lastly, the Church is providing a budget of 450,000 Swiss francs (€440,000) to enable the researchers to carry out their mission.

“The Church is committed to shedding light without seeking to protect its own reputation,” insisted Renata Asal-Steger, President of the RKZ, during the presentation of this “pilot project”.

“A just reparation is needed after having been kept on the sidelines for too long,” said Jacques Nuoffer, president of the Support Group for People Abused by a Religious Authority (SAPEC).

“Given the lamentable management of abuses by the French-speaking Swiss bishops from 1950 to 2011”, he called for the presence of experts from French-speaking Switzerland.

An investigation to come

Vreni Peterer, a member of the German-speaking interest group for people affected by abuse in Church contexts (MikU), called on the bishops to finally take institutional responsibility for the abuse rather than attributing it to the personal faults of individuals.

Several people attending the press conference complained that the project was not ambitious enough.

They noted that even though this is just a preparatory phase for a real investigation, the results are not going to be published until late 2023.

The CIASE model has been mentioned several times, but the Swiss bishops have not yet committed to it.

Bishop Bonnemain has recognized the difficulties, hoping that the preparatory inquiry will be able to move forward as quickly as possible.

He emphasized that the initiative was motivated by “the duty of justice towards all the victims”.

https://international.la-croix.com/news/religion/swiss-bishops-want-to-shed-light-on-clergy-sex-abuse/15911