Criticism of the Jesuits: An association of fathers of abused former students accuses the order and the church of "delaying tactics". The victims' group "Eckiger Tisch" demands concrete proposals for a financial compensation.
For the abuse suffered, there must finally be a "significant sign of remorse," explained the spokesman for the association, Matthias Katsch, on Monday in Berlin. In the group "Eckiger Tisch" abuse victims from Jesuit institutions all over Germany have joined together. "We are impatient and angry," Katsch said. Since the meeting of victims and representatives of the Order at the "Corner Table" at the end of May, there have been "positive signals", but no response to the demands of the victims. He accused the order of delaying tactics. It is not very useful that the Order wants to wait for the results of the Round Table against Abuse set up by the Federal Government before making possible compensation payments. Also the recent letter of Jesuit Provincial Stefan Dartmann to the victims does not contain concrete details, so Katsch. At the same time, the current situation is difficult for the victims to bear, Katsch continued. On the one hand, the Jesuits signaled that they could understand the suffering inflicted and the demands of the victims. On the other hand, they did not dare to present a proposal.
A "substantial contribution" On the question of the amount of financial compensation, Katsch said the "Square Table" had not quantified its demands. But it would have to be a "substantial contribution". One could orientate oneself on a model of the Austrian church, which created a victim fund and wants to make payments between 5000 and 25,000 euro. However, the German group "emphatically" rejected a scale based on the severity of the abuse. Also for Andrea Fischer of an "adventurous idea". The ex-minister, who in mid-July had presented a special report on abuse at the Jesuit order at the request of the victims, said she recommended the order not to wait for the result of the "round table" on the question of financial compensation. Even if the associated financial burden is "not easy," there should be an "appropriate response" and "symbolic atonement" should be made. According to Fischer, the order has failed as an "educational institution and moral authority". This primarily concerns the senior staff at the time, who, for example, transferred perpetrators after allegations of abuse, where they often continued to deal with children and young people. Inquiries had not been made and the public prosecutor's office had not been called in. One of the most important consequences is to think about how to develop a sense for the topic in the future and how to react appropriately. A trivialization of such acts – as in the past – had to be prevented. According to an interim report published in May by the German Jesuit order's sexual abuse commissioner, Ursula Raue, there have been more than 200 cases of mistreatment and sexual abuse of children and young people in Jesuit institutions in recent decades.