A study on sexual violence in the Catholic diocese of Augsburg, as well as abuse and the effects on victims across the board, has now been initiated.
The way is clear for an abuse study on sexual violence in the Catholic diocese of Augsburg. The diocese of Augsburg and its independent review commission confirmed to the “Augsburger Allgemeine” (Wednesday edition) that a corresponding order should be issued. The diocese agreed to fund the investigation.
“The intended study is intended to take a different perspective from the opinions available to date in various dioceses,” said Hubert Paul, the chairman of the commission and the former president of the Social Court in Augsburg. The considerations were “to have the situation of people affected by abuse in the context of the Catholic Church in the diocese of Augsburg examined in its entirety – including psychosocial – within the framework of an open-ended scientific study”.
Since last summer, the review commission has been “conducting very productive discussions with scientists from a Bavarian university,” said Paul, without giving any further details. An evaluation of the cases in the diocese of Augsburg known from the “MHG study” by two members of the seven-person review commission is also about to be completed, Paul announced.
The MHG study was commissioned by the German Catholic bishops and presented in 2018. It referred to all 27 (arch) dioceses. Their finding: 1,670 clergy are said to have abused 3,677 children and young people between 1,946 and 2014.
The Augsburg diocese spokesman Ulrich Bobinger told the newspaper that the diocese of Augsburg had already promised when the independent review commission was established in 2021 that it would provide it with the necessary funds that it considers necessary for its work. “This promise always included costs that could arise from externally commissioned studies.”
