Evangelisation draws on "the beauty and radiance of faith," Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer (pictured) of Regensburg told CNA Deutsch in an interview published 1 September.

"However, it (evangelisation) needs to go hand in hand with a ‘healthy' form of apologetics, insofar as the proclamation of the faith has never, and certainly not today, taken place in a merely benevolent and affirmative atmosphere."

Apologetics "should demonstrate the reasonableness of faith and the hope the faith can give in the face of critical inquiries," Voderholzer, a professor of dogmatics, said.

Bishop Voderholzer said there was a specific canon of scandals that Catholics often find themselves confronted with: "The crusades, witch trials, the Galileo case, colonialism, complicity in totalitarian systems, corruption of the Jesus tradition, and recently especially sexual abuse."

Apologetics does not mean a "defiant denial of the dark sides of the Church, or dogmatism at any price," the theologian warned.

"What matters is a knowledge of history, discernment and the understanding that the ‘holiness of the Church' does not mean the moral blamelessness of all its members, but the gift of the Lord to communicate his presence, his salvation, precisely in fragile vessels."

Asked about role models for a "healthy form of apologetics," the German prelate said he thought of Irenaeus of Lyon, Thomas Aquinas, Blaise Pascal, John Henry Newman, Henri de Lubac, and also Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI.

"They all know that the revelation of God, which is handed down to us in the Holy Scriptures and the faith of the Church, is self-evident," he said.

Voderholzer is the founding director of the Pope Benedict XVI Institute, which was created in 2008 to compile and make available both published and unpublished writings of the theologian, bishop and pope emeritus.

Sources

Catholic News Agency

Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg has vowed to intensify "preventive measures" after two research reports found "extensive, violent" abuse at the choir school, particularly the Junior school, spanned several decades, from 1945 to 1992.

For 30 years during this time, the famous choir was run by Msgr Georg Ratzinger, Benedict's brother.

"The goal [of the reports], using methods and mechanisms of social psychology, was to identify factors which encouraged these cases," Voderholzer says.

"The foremost aim now is to ensure justice and satisfaction to all those who were allowed to suffer, to demonstrate our sorrow and learn for the sake of future generations."

Bernhard Löffler, the historian from Regensburg University responsible for the first of two studies, says there was a "system of violence" at the school.

The Church, the children's parents and the Ministry of Culture contributed to this, Löffler says.

He also says Georg Ratzinger, the emeritus Pope's brother, must have known about the violent beatings the boys were subject to.

Ratzinger, who was choirmaster from 1964 to 1994, had played an "ambivalent" role, Löffler says.

During choir practices he was known for his "violent temper, including corporal punishment and psychological humiliation", but after choir practice was over, he had shown himself ready to listen to the boys' worries.

In the second study, Martin Rettenberger from the Wiesbaden Criminological Institute says choir school could not be controlled from outside, as it had its own "sealed off social system" and had developed its own "moral standards".

The choir's success was seen as being more important than the boys' well-being, and was worst in the junior school, he says.

Voderholzer says despite the pain the shattering abuse has caused its victims, "only the truth will set us free".

He says 547 abused choirboys were the victims of 49 perpetrators, nine of whom were sexual abusers.

Among the 49 were headmasters of both the boarding school and the choir school, prefects and teachers.

To date the diocese has paid victims a total of 3,785,000 euros in compensation. Individual victims had received between 2,500 euros and 25,000 euros.

Source

• Crux Now
• The Tablet
• Image: The Tablet

He offered his opinion at Katholikentag, a Muenster-based conference drawing tens of thousands of Catholics from German-speaking Europe.

"Let us seek ways of expressing the common Christian faith by sharing in the Last Supper and Communion. I am sure thousands of Christians in interdenominational marriages are hoping for this."

Steinmeier said he was speaking "not as Federal President, but as an avowed Evangelical Christian who lives in an interdenominational marriage."

His views followed last week's Vatican direction to German bishops to come to an agreement among themselves about whether Protestants married to Catholics may receive Communion under certain circumstances.

While most of the German bishops' conference supported the sharing of communion, seven said it violated Church teaching.

The issue dominated the Katholikentag conference.

Cardinal Reinhard Marx, who is the president of the German bishops' conference and the main proponent of the plan, echoed Steinmeier's words.

"When someone is hungry and has faith, they must have access to the Eucharist. That must be our passion, and I will not let up on this," he said.

He says Protestant spouses of Catholics "in individual cases" and "under certain conditions" may receive Holy Communion, provided they "affirm the Catholic faith in the Eucharist."

One celebrity who spoke at the conference was Protestant German comedian, Eckart von Hirschhausen.

He demanded to be "handed that wafer" because, since he is married to a Catholic, he pays Church tax.

"I don't see the point of a public debate about wafers," he said, referring to the Blessed Sacrament. In his view, climate change is a far more serious issue.

He later apologised for his comments.

Cardinal Rainer Woelki disagreed. "As a Catholic, I would never speak of a wafer," he said.

"Using this concept alone demonstrates that we have a very different understanding" of the Blessed Sacrament, in which "Catholics encounter Christ Himself."

Woelki called for all parties to "consider and recognise that the Eucharist is ordered to the unity of the creed."

Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg criticised the tone of the conference, saying it was in danger of being "intrumentalised" by supporters of the proposal.

Public pressure that does not appreciate the depth of the doctrinal issues at stake is very unhelpful, he said.

In his view, the intercommunion debate in Germany is a matter of doctrine that requires the unanimity of the universal Church if it is to proceed.

Source

• Catholic Herald
• National Catholic Register
• Catholic Citizens of Ilinois
• Image: Deutschlandfunk
  

Father Zollner is both President of the Centre for Child Protection of the Pontifical Gregorian University and a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

He says the detailed report about allegations of sexual molestation, violence and other abuses at the Regensburger Domspatzen school are an "important step forward".

Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI's brother Georg Ratzinger was in charge of the famous Regensburger Domspatzen choir, which was run separately from the school.

The report "Hinsehen, Zuhoren, Antworten" (Look, Listen, Respond) shows Regensburg's Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer has taken all the allegations seriously and "did not shy away from all that would ensue." Zollner says.

"We must look at reality in the face and we must address all the injustices, sins, crimes that were committed by priests and also other employees of the Church."

The report details abuses alleged to have occurred between 1945 to the early 1990's. It says at least 547 pupils have disclosed various forms of abuse; of these, 67 have disclosed instances of sexual abuse.

It took two years for the lawyer Voderholzer tasked with investigating the allegations to complete these and compile his report.

Voderholzer gave Weber free access to files and enabled him to contact victims and other people involved.

Zollner says the result is "a very well done Report and unobjectionable in its vastness, in its profundity and also in its scientific merit."

Source

• Vatican Radio
• Zenit
• DW
• Image: Regensburg Tourismus GmbH