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In 2008, you criticized the SRF’s “Word for Sunday” for saying that priests who maintain openly adult relationships in the Catholic Church are worse off than pedophile priests. This caused a storm of outrage.
Monika Schmid: I recently listened to this “Word for Sunday” again and thought it was very good. Unbelievable that there was such a media hype at the time and that I even received the Prix Courage audience award for it!
They were considered polluters. Now the University of Zurich’s pilot study has revealed more than 1,000 cases of abuse in the Catholic Church environment.
Yes, the bishop accused me of this and wanted to dismiss me from office. I then told him that if the bishops would act now, they could prevent a lot of suffering. But unfortunately that didn’t help at all. This church device is like a Teflon pan, nothing sticks to it. Actually, the bishops should have thanked me or at least apologized. But that hasn’t happened yet.
What do you think is the reason why your warning was ignored and you were punished?
I think the bishops did not want to believe everything and simply did not expect so much to come to light at the time. They wanted to keep everything under the carpet for as long as possible. It would be better to punish the bearer of the truth.
This article was first published in the “Observer”. You can find more exciting articles at www.beobachter.ch.
This article was first published in the “Observer”. You can find more exciting articles at www.beobachter.ch.
They were not banned and continued to criticize. How have you held on all these years?
Yes, I sometimes wonder that too. I just noticed that from that moment on I was a kind of beacon of hope for many Catholics. It would have been cowardly to simply give up at this point and remain silent about injustice.
After presenting the pilot study, several bishops held media conferences and claimed they had done or would do everything they could to clarify matters. How have these announcements affected you?
I just don’t believe the bishops mean this. Now the outside pressure is high right now, and that’s why they’re responding. It’s always been that way. What if the pressure decreases again?
What do you think the bishops should respond to?
In the “Club” at SRF, Bishop Bonnemain wandered around quite a bit and didn’t want to decide what was going to happen. I expect the bishops to go to Rome together and say what they want to change in the Catholic Church in Switzerland: redefining the role of women in the Church, treating homosexuals and queer people like everyone else, abolishing forced celibacy and reforming power structures. onto the ground.
And do you think the Swiss bishops would be heard in the Vatican?
I think so. When I think about what happened a year ago when we celebrated a service that didn’t quite follow the rules… The Vatican also responded.
You talk about your farewell service as community leader of the Catholic Church in Illnau-Effretikon. It is said that you violated canon law at the time because you celebrated a mass. A preliminary investigation was then conducted within the church against you and the four co-celebrants – because of “liturgical abuse”.
When I read the phrase on the diocese’s website three days after our service, it took my breath away. The Church has covered up and suppressed sexual abuse for years, and it is actually called ‘abuse’ when a Mass is celebrated as it should have been celebrated a long time ago – together with all the women and men involved. I thought I wasn’t reading properly.
You were reprimanded for this by Bishop Bonnemain a few weeks ago. Has this been reported to Rome?
Naturally. We first had to go individually to the official who said that the matter would then go to the bishop and he would decide. But then the case still came to Rome because since 2001 all abuses, including liturgical abuses, must be reported to Rome. For us, this was a breach of good faith.
How hopeful are you that anything will change with the pilot study and subsequent research?
I have little hope. This is all hype and there are big promises, but not much is going to happen.
Source:Blick
I am Liam Livingstone and I work in a news website. My main job is to write articles for the 24 Instant News. My specialty is covering politics and current affairs, which I’m passionate about. I have worked in this field for more than 5 years now and it’s been an amazing journey. With each passing day, my knowledge increases as well as my experience of the world we live in today.
