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| Catholic bishops at a German Bishops' Conference event in 2010.German Bishops' Conference |
September 12, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – Two German major media outlets – Der Spiegel and Die Zeit – leaked today the findings of a sexual abuse commission funded by the German Bishops' Conference and which Cardinal Reinhard Marx had planned to present to the public on 25 September.
The report shows that many abusing priests were simply transferred to other parishes and that only one-third of them were ever investigated by the Church.
The majority of victims were boys under 14 years of age. There also now arise serious concerns about the lack of academic independence of the official researchers.
The leaked information about the so-called “MHG Study” is causing a great stir in Germany, since it finally brings to light the murky history of the German bishops' handling of abuse cases. And, as expected, their conduct is similar to many bishops in the U.S.: cover-ups and moving priests into another parish.
As Der Spiegel reports, the study which had been conducted by a team stemming from three German universities (Mannheim, Heidelberg, and Gießen) in the name of the German Bishops' Conference under Cardinal Marx, looked into abuse cases from 1946 until 2014. Importantly, the study states that there were counted “3,677 mostly male minors as victims of sexual abuse.”
1,670 clergymen have been accused of these crimes.
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As Die Zeit specifies in its own report: “62% of the victims are male, and 35% are female. In some partial investigations, the percentage of male victims even went up to 80%.”
More than half of the victims were, at the most, 13 years old, reports Walter Mayr for Der Spiegel. He also points out, quoting from an executive summary of that official report that is to be presented by Cardinal Marx on September 25 that in many cases the archives and files concerning the accused clergymen have been “destroyed or manipulated.”
As Mayr also quotes from the report, it is not to be assumed “that the sexual abuse of minors by clergymen of the Catholic Church is a topic that belongs to the past and that has been resolved.” The abuse cases have continued to happen up until the end of the time period under investigation, that is the year 2014.
“In a striking amount of cases,” continues Mayr, “the accused clergymen were moved to another location, without the new parish being given 'the pertinent information' about the abuser.” “Only a third of the abusers faced a canonical trial, at which end the sanctions were minimal, if there were any.” As is stated, only 41 accused priests were laicized, 88 were excommunicated.
As the leaked report states, about 4% of the active clergy have been accused of sexual abuse. Only 7.8 % of the abusers have been punished with drastic sanctions.
The numbers of abusers and victims is likely much higher than what is stated in the report.
As the German newspaper Die Zeit comments, “for the first time, the Catholic Church admits what she has covered up for years and then played down.” The given numbers of abuse cases in the report, Evelyn Finger, the reporter, adds, is the lowest possible number. “That is to say,” explains Finger, “behind the most important numbers which have been listed here, there stands the invisible 'at least.'” “The truth is much worse,” she later adds.
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The research team of seven researchers and additional helpers has investigated – over the course of four and a half years – 38,000 personnel and other files; they also conducted many interviews. The mission as given by the German bishops was to find out the extent of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Germany and to discern which conditions encouraged such misconduct.
The 350-page final report which was funded, according to Die Zeit, with 1.2 million euros, now presents the results of research conducted in all 27 German dioceses.
As Die Zeit points out, “one fundamental problem remains: the dependency of the results upon the bishops.” That was the original problem of the project, Finger adds, when Professor Christian Pfeiffer, a criminologist of Hannover, who had first started this study, but then found the conditions of research professionally unacceptable. As Finger points out, the German bishops had tried to tighten up the original contract with Pfeiffer, who had reacted against their attempt at having control over the findings of his research. The bishops even tried to gain the right to forbid the publication of the research, should there arise “a serious reason.” Pfeiffer has also criticized the “destruction of files” and the “resistance” on the part of the Church against an “independent analysis of the files by former judges and attorneys.”
As Finger stresses, these complaints on the part of Professor Pfeiffer have now been confirmed, since the final report as published by another research team states that “in some cases, there were to be found clear indications that files had been manipulated.” The researchers also found “explicit information” from two dioceses “that files or parts of files pertaining to sexual abuse of minors had been destroyed at an earlier time.”
Importantly, the research team states: “The study project did not have access to the original files of the Catholic Church. All archives and files of the dioceses had been investigated only by diocesan personnel or by law firms hired by the dioceses.” That is to say, these diocesan employees first went through the files and filled out a questionnaire developed by the research team. As Finger points out, “none of the scientists ever had in their hands files from the Church's archives. That is why this study is not really independent. The institution that had to be investigated controlled the investigation.” She points out that this is a difference to the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report, as well as the Royal Commission's report in Australia.
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Finger makes it clear that the Church, if she at all took sanctions against the abusing priests, “chose rather soft punishments such as early retirement, interdiction to celebrate Mass, therapy, leave of absence, reprimand, low fees, or just simply retreats.” These punishments, Finger comments, were “less than fitting.” In only about 7 % of the cases, the bishops even called upon the state to investigate the committed crimes. The journalist also says that “up to 8% of the whole clergy” was found to be abusers. As the report states, “the majority of the abusers did not show signs of repentance.” Finger finds it “improbable” that, with regard to the lack of punishments, there was a “lack of knowledge” on the part of those with responsibility.
* * * * *
When this news first broke, many people were shocked by what they saw. The shock may have been a natural reaction to learning about the crimes of the Catholic Church, as many were learning about such corruption for the first time. The shock may have also resulted from the fact that for the first time in recent history, the Church is being called out for corruption and crimes beyond measure.
In past years, we may recall the fact that for the most part, thousands of claims have been brought against priests and Catholic figures, and yet no significant justice has been brought against alleged offenders. However, it appears that now, the tables are turning. Yet even in the overt revelations which are currently coming forward, there appears to be a clear reluctance of media companies to deliver the unedited truth to the public.
Notice the above article avoids the word "pedophilia" even though this term definitively applies to the situation. It's not in the original title, the text, or in the subject tags on the Life Site News website. This appears to be the typical M.O. of any MSM source that speaks about these types of issues. In this way, these sources actually avoid accurate terminology in describing the stories they report.
Sex trafficking, rape cults, and pedophilia have all been openly reported by various MSM sources over time. Though many of these reports have been extremely partial and euphemistic, they have admitted that these heinous crimes have been committed by high-ranking officials in various establishments. However, none of these sources appear to have much interest in being thorough or frank in any of these reports.
The terminology is often reduced to something to the effect of sex abuse or sexual misconduct. One report from past revelations about the NXIVM scandal demonstrates this euphemism quite well. This recent report comes from NBC New York.
A television actress best known for playing a young Superman's close friend pleaded not guilty Friday to sex trafficking after federal prosecutors said she worked as a slave "master" recruiting unsuspecting women to a cult-like group led by a man who sold himself as a self-improvement guru to the stars.
Actress Allison Mack recruited slaves into a pyramid scheme for the benefit of alleged sex cult leader Keith Raniere, federal prosecutors said in an indictment unsealed against her Friday.
Mack, 35, starred in the CW series "Smallville" and has played minor roles since the series ended in 2011. But authorities said she was a major player in Raniere's cult-like organziation called NXIVM (pronounced Nex-i-um), helping to recruit unsuspecting women for what was purported to be a female mentoring group.
But "the victims were then exploited, both sexually and for their labor," according to federal prosecutors.
"Mack and other ... masters recruited ... slaves by telling them that they were joining a women-only organization that would empower them and eradicate purported weaknesses the NVIVM curriculum taught were common in women," prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said Friday that Mack stood at the level directly below Raniere in a pyramid scheme called DOS, into which she recruited fresh slaves. The government alleges that Mack forced those slaves to have sex with Raniere in exchange for what were described as "financial and other benefits."
Prosecutors said she required women she recruited to engage in sexual activity with Raniere, who paid Mack in return.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Moira Kim Penza said in court that "under the guise of female empowerment" Mack "starved women until they fit her co-defendant's sexual ideal."
In a letter attributed to Raniere—who was arrested in Mexico and returned to the United States last month—previously posted on a website related to NXIVM, he denied the practices were sanctioned by the self-described self-help group.
The complaint against Raniere - known in the group as "Vanguard" - said that many victims participated in videotaped ceremonies where they were branded in their pelvic area with a symbol featuring Raniere's initials.
"During the branding ceremonies, slaves were required to be fully naked, and the master would order one slave to film while the other held down the slave being branded," the complaint says.
Raniere left the United States late last year after The New York Times reported the stories of some women who defected from their secret sorority and the government began interviewing potential witnesses. He sought to cover this trail by using encrypted email and ditching his phone, court papers say.
Both Raniere and Mack face charges of sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy and forced labor conspiracy, for which they could receive 15 years to life in prison.
Mack's "Smallville" co-star Kristin Kreuk says she was involved with one of the group's self-help programs but left about five years ago. She wrote on Twitter last month that she didn't experience any "nefarious activity" and was "horrified and disgusted" by the allegations.
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/investigations/Actress-Allison-Mack-Arrested-Nxivm-Sex-Cult-480387783.html?_osource=SocialFlowTwt_NYBrand
When we see the full report from NBC, there is only partial mention of the actual charges against Keith Raniere and Allison Mack. This type of partial reporting was the standard the MSM employed in reporting the revelations surrounding NXIVM.
Instead of discussing the reality of pedophilia and child trafficking, the report simply claimed that the NXIVM cult was nothing more than a "sex cult" that engaged in a few criminal practices while omitting the rest of the story. In reality, the actual charges against Raniere and Mack include clear rape, torture, pedophilia and sex trafficking of minors, and yet these facts are rarely reported by the MSM.
This demonstration of censorship of the MSM can easily come across as cowardice and can leave readers misinformed about the truth of such crimes when these crimes are disclosed. In a world based on true, accurate and responsible reporting, this is a problem.
It seems clear that various sources are interested in maintaining secrecy—either in part or in full. Whether or not these sources do so out of fear or because they are somehow involved in these crimes in unknown. However, it seems quite clear that in many cases, corporate media is intent upon enabling these heinous crimes in continuing.
This is not to say that Dr. Hickson or Life Site News is involved in such crimes in any way, but rather to point out the importance of seeking quality, independent, and unattached media that delivers the unedited truth free of euphemism and censorship. These sources may be few at present. However, due to the ever-growing hunger of the public for truth, honest and forthright sources of information are in high demand.
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