Abuse in Einsiedeln Monastery?: ‘I had to take off my clothes in his room’

“He threw his habit on me”

Father A. summoned the boy to the monastery on the afternoon when there was no school. “In his room I had to take off my clothes and kneel in front of him. He threw his black robe over me and pressed my head between his legs. I didn’t know what to do with my hands, he made me hold his legs. It was horrible.

Walter Gerzner didn’t tell anyone about this incident for years. Not to the nuns in the orphanage and later not in the private environment. “No one would have believed me anyway.” He has now long since retired.

Only now has he found the strength to write to the abbot of the Einsiedeln Monastery, Urban Federer (55), more than 60 years after the incident. He wants to know what happened to his tormentor, whether there were other victims among the orphans and whether the monastery was aware of the attacks. Because Walter Gerzner remembers that other children also had to go to Father A.’s room.

The useless abbot

Sexual violence in the area surrounding the Einsiedeln Monastery was already a problem around 2010. The monastery set up an external committee at the time, which came to a momentous conclusion in 2011: since the 1950s, fifteen monks have been guilty of sexual assault and there have been at least forty victims. The final report is still under lock and key to this day. Walter Gerzner’s case was not documented at the time because he knew nothing about the investigation.

The abbot writes words of condolence to Walter Gerzner, but explains that a priest by that name was not mentioned in the 2011 investigation report. At the same time, he refers him to a psychologist and to the victim support center. In a second letter the abbot writes to him: ‘Since I have not read anything more from you, I assume that I do not have to do anything at the moment.’

The hermit abbot’s response plunges Walter Gerzner into a crisis. He doesn’t have the energy to write to the abbot again. He was paralyzed for months. He doesn’t want to contact a point of contact and “I don’t need a psychologist.” He cannot shake off the suspicion that the monastery does not believe him.

Abt ignores the reporting obligation

Nothing happened for almost a year. Only when the observer gets involved does the matter start to move: when asked, the abbot emphasizes that he assumed that an expert would now determine the next steps together with the person involved. He does not see himself as having a duty: so that “the slightest suspicion does not arise” that he is not taking the matter seriously or even covering it up, a victim must turn to an independent contact person.

In doing so, Abbot Federer ignores the canonical obligation to investigate and report suspected sexual abuse of minors by a cleric. Urban Federer goes one step further and says when asked: “I will wait until an investigative authority has taken action before I conduct a preliminary investigation.”

A strange statement. Criminal investigation authorities are no longer investigating a potential crime that occurred more than 60 years ago. Moreover, Walter Gerzner is not thinking about filing a criminal complaint. He doesn’t want to tell his painful story again. Financial compensation is not a priority for him at the moment. He just wants to know what happened to the priest and whether he has been held accountable for his alleged actions.

The search for the father

Abbot Federer tells the Observer that it is not clear from the description which priest was the alleged perpetrator. A priest with that name died in the mid-1950s. Another with the same name did not live in the monastery until “a few years later”.

However, research by the Observer shows that the priest in question stayed in Einsiedeln until the late 1960s. He was also no stranger: four former residents of the Einsiedeln orphanage confirm that they remember him.

He is still alive – in Einsiedeln

Annemarie Iten, who has published a book about her experiences in the local children’s home, says: “I was in primary school in the early 1960s, I remember this priest well.” On Sundays he preached from the pulpit in the youth church and also founded a youth club. Later, Father A. is said to have been transferred and worked as a priest elsewhere.

The observer follows the trail and finds out: Father A. is still alive. And not just anywhere. But very old in the Einsiedeln Monastery – which is led by Abbot Federer. And he probably doesn’t know which priest taught at the orphanage at the time.

Abbot reports to Rome

Faced with this fact, Abbot Urban Federer suddenly states that he has already issued a report to Rome and that he can now “make it more specific and take further steps.” Abbot Federer does not want to say what exactly he does. It is not known what the suspected perpetrator says about the accusation of abuse. It is unclear whether he is even aware of the observer request submitted to the abbot.

Urban Federer only states that he “could not respond to the request for a statement” and thus makes no public statement about it. It is the presumption of innocence.