The German bishops tackled the problem of spiritual abuse for the first time when conference experts on the subject met in Mainz on 31 October. The conference’s pastoral commission, the commission for priestly vocations and the youth commission, representatives of the Religious Orders and from the ecclesial movements and new spiritual communities all took part.
Spiritual abuse often preceded physical abuse, Bishop Felix Genn of Münster, chairman of the commission for priestly vocations in the bishops’ conference, pointed out. A “wrong spiritual accompaniment” first of all created a dependency that made physical abuse possible, Genn explained.
“Forcing my opinion, which I consider the right one for the other person concerned, on that person, instead of leaving them free to make up their own minds” was a widespread form of spiritual abuse in the experience of more and more victims who had come forward, Genn said. Pastoral care and spiritual accompaniment were supposed to strengthen people’s self-confidence and not the opposite, he pointed out.
There was a danger of spiritual abuse if Religious Superiors with a need to exercise control and power encountered subordinates who had exaggerated ideals but were at the same time unsure of themselves and afraid of conflict, Sr Petra Articus, Abbess of the Seligenthal Cisterican Monastery at Landshut in Bavaria, pointed out.
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