Diocese of Aachen Exposes Perpetrators of Abuse: Encouraging Victims to Come Forward

2023-10-18 13:17:54

As of: October 18, 2023 3:17 p.m

There are 53 names on the list: The diocese of Aachen publishes the identities of several perpetrators of abuse and suspects. This is intended to encourage victims to come forward.

In the course of dealing with sexual violence by priests and other church employees, the diocese of Aachen has the names of 53 perpetrators and suspected perpetrators published on the Internet. The aim is to encourage those affected to come forward, said Bishop Helmut Derer: “By naming names, we are making further progress.”

Bishop Helmut Dies (archive photo)

According to Bishop, this is only a layman among the 53 names mentioned, the others are priests. According to the diocese, a total of 126 accused church employees and 267 affected people are known. Among the names of the alleged perpetrators is the name of an auxiliary bishop who died in 1986. “I understand that this must come as a shock to many,” said this person: “We do not make an exception for any suspected perpetrator, no matter what rank he held throughout his life.” The Aachen bishop is also the abuse commissioner for the German Bishops’ Conference.

Which names are mentioned?

The diocese of Aachen is the first in Germany to publish a list of names. The decision to do so was made following much consideration and in coordination with the responsible committees, it said. According to Vicar General Andreas Frick, the diocese only gives the names of perpetrators and suspected perpetrators who have been dead for at least ten years. Either the person concerned must have been legally convicted by state or church courts. Or in the respective case, an application for recognition of the suffering must have been approved. “In our view, these criteria are reliable, stand up to legal scrutiny and are transparent,” said Frick.

In response to the abuse scandal, the Catholic Church in Germany initiated a reform process in 2019, the Synodal Way. The aim was to change the structures that had encouraged abuse for decades.

Recently, the abuse scandal took on a new dimension when a cardinal came into focus as the suspected perpetrator for the first time. The Ruhr Bishop Franz Hengsbach, who died in 1991, is said to have, among other things, abused a 16-year-old during his time as auxiliary bishop in Paderborn.

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