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	German Catholic Head Urges 'Slapping' Bishop Go on Retreat Earth Times April 21, 2010 http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/319830,german-catholic-head-urges-slapping-bishop-go-on-retreat.html Berlin - The head of the Catholic Church in Germany on Wednesday publicly urged Bishop Walter Mixa, who admits that he repeatedly slapped teenagers in his care, to take some time out. Mixa issued a public apology on Tuesday for slapping teenage inmates at an orphanage in the years till 1996 when he was a parish priest, but rebuffed calls in his diocese to step down. He denies sworn statements by inmates that he also caned and punched minors. In an unprecedented split among Germany's 27 Catholic bishops, the Archbishop of Freiburg, Robert Zollitsch, said that both he and the Archbishop of Munich, Reinhard Marx, had urged Mixa, who is Bishop of Augsburg, to take some leave. In several talks in recent days, they had discussed with him whether "a period of spiritual retreat and geographic separation might not be helpful," said Zollitsch, who is chairman of the Conference of German Catholic Bishops, in Freiburg. This would ensure "a more factual atmosphere during the investigation," Zollitsch said. A spokesman for Mixa, Dirk Hermann Voss, refused comment, saying there was nothing new happening that would require any response. Mixa, whose case has gained as much prominence in Germany as paedophile attacks by rogue priests, initially denied any misdeeds while he was parish priest, then confirmed both the slapping and financial irregularities with orphanage funds. The orphanage has already apologized to the former inmates for the mistreatment after a special investigator checked the claims, which include unexplained spending by the orphanage on wine, artworks, a bishop's ring and a sun-bed. Mixa, who is also Germany's chief Catholic military chaplain, is a leading spokesman for the church's conservative wing. Many have criticized his apology as not going far enough. He told priests Tuesday, "It hurts me in my heart that I have caused distress to many people. I beg pardon." As a priest in the town of Schrobenhausen from 1975 to 1996, Mixa ran the orphanage board. Only the Vatican has the authority to fire or suspend a bishop.
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