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	Scandals Test Credibility of German Churches By Anli Serfontein The Pew Forum March 5, 2010 http://pewforum.org/news/display.php?NewsID=19782 TRIER, Germany (RNS/ENI) Germany's Protestant and Catholic churches may be facing the biggest credibility crisis in decades after an unprecedented bout of scandal-fueled negative media coverage. Bishop Margot Kassmann, the first woman to lead the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), resigned as leader of German Protestants on Feb. 24 after she was arrested for drunk driving, just four months into office. In the same week, Catholic bishops met in Freiburg to address allegations of widespread sexual abuse of children by clergy that had surfaced late in January, prompting a possible criminal probe by state officials. Germany is the birthplace of both the Protestant Reformation and Pope Benedict XVI, and religion plays a key role in German life; indeed, both churches are among the nation's largest employers. Some members of the Protestant church believe Kassmann's resignation has thrown the EKD, an umbrella group for 24 million Lutheran and Reformed Protestants, into a crisis of theological, moral and political proportions. Police in Hanover stopped Kassmann after she allegedly ran a red traffic light on Feb. 20, and then charged her with driving with more than three times the legal limit of alcohol in her blood. Steffen Burkhardt, a media analyst at the University of Hamburg, called Kassmann "a popular but also a polarizing personality, who stood for human closeness. There was a lot of interest in her as a private person, and not only as a theologian. This unfortunately can have a boomerang effect." He noted Kassman's swift resignation, which was splashed across the front page of Bild, the nation's largest-circulation newspaper. By dealing openly and decisively with her situation, Kassmann was able to put forward a human face for Protestantism, while "sexual abuse has no face," he said. "The church now loses an important spokesperson for an open, communicative church. It is a setback for the liberal movement in the Church and for the progressive, socially involved church she stood for." The weekly German magazine Der Spiegel, too, placed Kassmann on its front page, and in an editorial said her "quick, simple resignation ... serves as a role model." Kassmann had been bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover, the biggest Protestant Church in Germany, since 1999. Last October, the 51-year-old bishop was elected as the first woman and youngest chairperson of the EKD, which is made up of 22 largely independent regional Lutheran, Reformed and United churches. Kassmann, a divorcee and breast cancer survivor, was known for her blunt opinions, including against German military involvement in Afghanistan. Adding to controversy swirling around her, the Russian Orthodox Church had refused to talk to her as a bishop because it does not recognize women's ordination. Many German churches say they're feeling a financial pinch as more people turn their back on traditional churches. Some Christians believed Kassmann was a bishop who could potentially stem the tide, and attract new members. When the German national soccer goalkeeper Robert Enke committed suicide last November, Kassmann opened her church in Hanover the following evening to lead prayers for his stunned fans. About 800 people attended, while an additional 300 listened outside. On Sunday (Feb. 28), clergy in 1,500 Hanover pulpits read a letter from Kassmann, thanking the congregations for their support and apologizing for disappointing them. Catholic churches, meanwhile, face a different kind of crisis as bishops wrestle with some 170 abuse allegations involving children at Catholic schools. Prosecutors have launched their own investigation, and the bishops said they were "ashamed and shocked" by the reports. "We are not at the start of our dealings with these failures, even if we have, until now, underestimated their extent," the bishops said in announcing a review of existing policy.In addition, a former member of the boys choir in Regensburg -- which was directed for 30 years by the pope's own brother, Monsignor Georg Ratzinger -- has filed his own allegation of abuse, although Ratzinger said he was unaware of any history of abuse. Coming on the heels of a damning clergy sexual abuse report in Ireland, and rumblings of trouble in Italy and the Netherlands, observers say the church in Germany, and across Europe, may be facing rough times ahead. "What happened in the U.S. in 2002 is happening in Europe in 2010," said David Clohessy, director of the Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "Horrific child sex crimes and coverups by Catholic clerics are beginning to publicly surface, and the revelations are spreading from one locale to another."
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