The Catholic Church in Germany is undergoing a profound and fiercely contested transformation, and at the centre of this process stands the highly controversial ‘Synodaler Weg’ (Synodal Path).
Launched in 2019; The Synodal Path was a direct response to the explosive 2018 Mannheim, Heidelberg, and Gießen (MGH) Study, which revealed that Church files from 1946 to 2014 detailed over 3,600 cases of child abuse involving more than 1,670 members of the clergy.
And perhaps more disturbing still, was that in many cases the church had taken deliberate measures to attempt to conceal and supress the truth.
Catholic philosopher Hanna-Barbara Gerl-Falkovitz says the Church ‘s approach to dealing with child abuse cases has been catastrophic.
At a public lecture, at Heiligenkreuz University in Austria in 2022, she said: “Instead of cleansing itself with light, the Church built thicker walls. Had it embraced truth sooner, it would not have haemorrhaged trust. Now, we face not just lost credibility, but lost souls.”
And speaking to The Catholic Herald today, she maintains her profound anger on this issue.
“The German Catholic Church has been utterly stupid and stubborn in its silence. Had it been transparent from the beginning, the credibility crisis could have been avoided. Instead, it chose secrecy, which deepened the wounds of the victims.”
“The Church in Germany made a serious mistake by refusing to be transparent and face up to all this and have independent inquiries. Instead each diocese just quietly conducted its own investigation, leading to heaps of totally inconsistent standards and processes. And the results of these have been trickling out for years—and every few months there is yet another abuse scandal.”
Continue reading at the Catholic Herald