By NEHLA SHAMEER
According to a university study clergy in the western, German diocese abused at Least 610 minors. Because many cases go unreported, researchers believe the actual number of victims could be ten times higher.
A new study released on Monday revealed that the scope of sexual abuse within the Catholic diocese of Münster is much broader than previously thought.
What did the study discover?
According to a new report from the University of Münster, nearly 200 clergy members committed nearly 6,000 instances of abuse. at least 5,700 individual acts of sexual abuse were committed by a total of 196 clergymen, including 183 priests.
Five percent of the clergymen involved were found to be serial offenders who had victimized more than ten people, and less than ten percent had faced any legal consequences.
Researchers believe the true number of victims could be much higher – up to 5,000 to 6,000 more victims – due to unreported cases, according to the report’s authors at a press conference on Monday outlining their findings.
Münster Bishop Felix Genn, who was appointed in 2008,received the university’s findings on Monday and stated that he will make a public statement on Friday.
The researchers also claim that bishops in the diocese were aware of widespread abuse but did nothing, repeatedly using abusive clergy in pastoral care, allowing further abuse to occur. Only 12% of alleged offenders were removed, according to the study.
A common practice for dealing with clergymen involved in abuse was to either admonish them or send them to a monastery for short-term stays, but most of the accused abusers were sent to another parish, where they continued their crimes, according to researchers.
They added that approximately 50 of the accuse priests are still alive today.
Felix Genn, the bishop of Muenster, is scheduled to make a detailed comment on the study on Friday.
The authors accuse Genn, who has served as Bishop of Muenster since 2009, of failing to prosecute abusers.
According to a 2018 study commissioned by the German Bishops’ Conference, 1,670 clergymen in the country committed some form of sexual assault against 3,677 minors between 1946 and 2014.
A report into the diocese of Munich and Freising released in January found evidence of sexually abusive behavior in 235 people investigated, including 173 priests, with at least 497 victims
