Bishops' conference struggles for effective processing of sexual violence

Bishops' conference struggles for effective processing of sexual violence

Warschau, Polen - In Poland, the efforts to process abuse cases within the Catholic Church remain a challenge. At a three -day general assembly in Warsaw, the Polish bishops discussed the structure and powers of an independent commission to investigate sexual violence on minors. Despite the certainty that such a commission is necessary, the guidelines proposed by Archbishop Wojciech Polak were rejected. One of the reasons for this is that the data collected could possibly be used for civil lawsuits against church institutions, which the bishops get. Like kathpress.at, the specifications must now be revised, so that further coordination with the religious communities are required.

The discussions about sexualized violence in the church are not only limited to Poland. The topic and churches also employ the topic in Germany. The independent commission for dealing with sexual child abuse has given more and more affected people and for the first time won public attention with the so -called abuse scandal in 2010. According to refurbishment kommission.de , those affected report coverage and silence, which also makes it difficult to deal with. The churches in Germany, both Catholic and Evangelical, are partly disagreed in their actions and structures when it comes to prevention and processing. Affected people described that they lived in a climate of silence, in which references to sexual assault were often not passed on, even if the clergymen were legally obliged to do so.

The Commission has collected hundreds of reports and hearings since its foundation in order to obtain a clear view of the abuse cases. The path to comprehensive processing in both churches is described as difficult, but requires comprehensible criteria and transparency in order to regain the trust of those affected. All of this happens at a time when the churches are increasingly under pressure to take clear measures to combat abuse and to take responsibility.