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	German Bishop Mixa Rejects Corporal-Punishment Allegations Earth Times March 31, 2010 http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316596,german-bishop-mixa-rejects-corporal-punishment-allegations.html GERMANY -- The office of a leading conservative Catholic bishop in Germany, Walter Mixa of Augsburg, denied on Wednesday allegations that he had slapped or spanked children in a church orphanage three decades ago. A newspaper had earlier in the day quoted former residents with claims that the clergyman gave them corporal punishment for misbehaviour while he was parish priest of the southern town of Schrobenhausen. Mixa is the first of Germany's 27 bishops to have to face an allegation that he personally abused children. Germany has already been rocked by allegations that priests sexually abused hundreds of children in their care. A woman, 47, who asked not to be quoted by name, told the German Press Agency dpa that she had been physically punished by Mixa on several occasions. "They were blows to the face with the palm of his hand or his fist," she said. She said she was once hit so hard that she fell over onto a bed. Nuns ran the orphanage, which mainly catered to children who came from broken homes or were too difficult for their parents to manage. A Munich newspaper, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, said it had obtained declarations on oath that Mixa slapped, punched or spanked the behinds of both boys and girls who had misbehaved. The incidents were said to have happened more than 30 years ago. Kathi Marie Ulrich, a spokeswoman for the bishop of Augsburg, said, "At no time and in none of his functions has Bishop Mixa ever maltreated children." In a statement, she said the report was "absurd, untrue and evidently concocted with the aim of personally discrediting the bishop" because he was "a prominent representative of the Catholic Church." The statement said the diocese reserved the right to sue those making the claims. The newspaper said Mixa was parish priest in the town from 1975 to 1996, when he was appointed bishop of Eichstaett. In 2005 he moved to Augsburg. Mixa is a conservative who has often made outspoken political comments.
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