The Advisory Board concerned at the German Bishops’ Conference is horrified by the allegations against the well-known Benediktiner Anselm Grün from Münster-Black and his reaction to it.
In a press release (Sunday evening), the panel calls for a comprehensive clarification of the accusation.
"In addition, we consider it urgent to carry out an independent investigation whether and to what extent other alleged and convicted abusers was paved the way back into pastoral care by the Recollectiohaus of the Benedictine abbey of Münsterschwarzach," the advisory board continued.
In its fourth annual report last week, the Independent Commission for the Investigation of Sexual Abuse in the Archdiocese of Paderborn had accused Green of having mediated a confessed abuser from the Recollectio House into pastoral care.
The Recollectio-Haus of the Benedictine Abbey of Münsterschwarzach offers psychotherapeutic and spiritual accompaniment for priests, religious and employees in church service. Green is the clergy leader of the institution.
Speaking to the Catholic News Agency (KNA), the Benedictine said: "I cannot remember the case and exclude that too."
The Advisory Board asks the question of how this fits together.
Affected Advisory Board: Homosexuality was considered a bigger problem than abuse
According to the Paderborn report, Green is said to have vouched for the fact that the confessed priest is not homosexual and can therefore be used again in pastoral care.
For the Advisory Board for the person concerned, this is a sign of the view expressed in the Catholic Church at that time "and partly to this day" that "the homosexual predisposition of a priest is a far greater problem than an alleged abuse crime committed by him.
The victims were not and are not in the eye."
The case from the 1990s is about a Paderborn vicar who sexually abused a 16-year-old and confessed in the later criminal proceedings.
After a stay of the priest in the Recollectio house, Grün had declared to those responsible from the Archdiocese of Paderborn the willingness to accept the priest into the monastery of Münsterschwarzach.
In addition, he had proposed to continue to use the vicar in a municipality in the diocese of Würzburg in pastoral care until then. The diocese of Würzburg approved the deployment in September 1992.
According to the annual report, the clergyman was subsequently employed in Würzburg from 1992 to 2009 and in the diocese of Erfurt from 2009.
