GERMANY: Good Friday prayers at Cologne Cathedral include a prayer for children abused at church schools.

Record ID: 534602

  • Title: GERMANY: Good Friday prayers at Cologne Cathedral include a prayer for children abused at church schools.
  • Date: 3rd April 2010
  • Summary: CARDINAL MEISNER PRAYING CLOSE OF PRAYER BOOK (SOUNDBITE) (German) CARDINAL JOACHIM MEISNER, ARCHBISHOP OF COLOGNE, SINGING PRAYER: "Let us pray for the children and young people who had a great injustice done unto them whilst in the middle of the people of God and the church community. Who were abused in body and soul. We pray also for those who became guilty and who committed grave sins against young people who were entrusted into their care and protection. [Another voice asks people to kneel] Almighty and eternal God. Your son in his physical suffering was himself a victim of injustice and violence. Because of our sins he was wounded deep into his heart. Give your comfort, your strength and your love to all who have suffered great injustice in body and spirit. Heal their wounds and strengthen their faith. We pray for the guilty that they understand their sins and repent and give them the chance to redemption and the will to make right their wrongs. Send us all your Holy Spirit to support us so that we stay on the path of righteousness. So that we may reject evil and do good. For this we pray, Christ our Lord, Amen!"
  • Embargoed: 18th April 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA7VJ5TS9FQG2VFXCGVL7A0XCU9
  • Story Text: German churches across the country offer prayers for victims of church abuse . Numerous Catholic churches and cathedrals across Germany used their Good Friday (April 2) sermons to say a prayer for the victims of church abuse.
    In Germany, allegations of more than 250 abuse cases have been made public, most of them occurring at Catholic boarding schools several decades ago.
    Bishop Stephan Ackermann of the Trier diocese, who speaks on sexual abuse for the German Bishop's Conference, had sent the text to the dioceses ahead of Good Friday.
    Cologne's Archbishop, Cardinal Joachim Meisner called for forgiveness from the church's victims and for repentance from the perpetrators.
    The allegations reach the highest office of the Catholic church. The Vatican has repeatedly denied that Pope Benedict was involved in a decision to return a priest undergoing therapy for sexual abuse to work when he was archbishop of Munich in 1980.
    The Pope's brother, Georg Ratzinger, also admitted to doling out corporal punishment when he taught at a German school.
    Now there is evidence that the German Catholic Church could lose members over the widening scandal. According to a Forsa survey of German Catholics conducted by German magazine Stern, 19 percent are thinking about leaving the Church in response to the sexual abuse scandal.
    The chairman of the German Bishop's Conference, Archbishop of Freiburg Robert Zollitsch, released a statement on Friday (April 2) acknowledging the failure of the Catholic Church to satisfactorily handle the sex abuse scandal.
    Zollitsch said Good Friday could provide a new beginning for the church.
    Meanwhile Germans have lost the confidence they once had in Pope Benedict. According to the survey, 31 percent of 1004 Germans surveyed described the Pope's work as good or very good. In April 2007, that number was 70 percent.
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