Austrian, Dutch Catholic Church react to new abuse cases (2nd Roundup)

Mar 9, 2010, 17:56 GMT

Vienna - Fresh allegations of sexual and physical abuse by Catholic clergy surfaced in Austria and the Netherlands on Tuesday, prompting the ousting of an abbot in Austria and an independent investigation in the Netherlands.

The revelations came after a series of similar cases in German Catholic institutions, as well as in a non-denominational school in the state of Hesse.

Amid growing criticism of the church's handling of the widening scandal, the Vatican's spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, insisted that Catholic institutions in these three countries moved with 'timely and decisive action.'

In the Saint Peter monastery in the Austrian town of Salzburg, a senior official confirmed the resignation of Arch-abbot Bruno Becker, who had admitted of molesting an 11-year-old boy over 40 years ago.

The case was particularly shocking since victim had been previously abused by two other monks. Becker carried out his assault in the course of a conversation with the boy that was meant to clear up those allegations. Becker was still an aspirant priest at the time.

'This is a dark and bitter day for the church and for our monastery,' Prior Korbinian Birnbacher, a senior priest at Saint Peter, told news agencies.

At Mehrerau abbey in western Austria, the abbot alleged that one priest had sexually abused a male pupil at the abbey's boarding school in the 1980s, and confirmed that another priest was convicted after committing a similar crime in the town of Innsbruck in 2001.

Pupils were also beaten by their Catholic educators in Mehrerau, a practice common through the mid-1980s, Abbot Anselm van der Linde said in an interview with the daily Vorarlberger Nachrichten.

And victims of a rural priest alleged that the man molested up to twenty children and youth in Styria province in the 1970s and 80s, the weekly Der Falter reported. The clergyman, who is still active, admitted to eight cases in an interview with the publication.

Meanwhile, Dutch bishops decided to open a major investigation into alleged sexual abuse in Catholic institutions and asked Willem Joost, former parliament chairman and former The Hague mayor, to lead the probe.

Dutch daily De Telegraaf unearthed additional sexual abuse allegations against nuns, as the number of alleged victims in Catholic institutions has risen to 200 in the Netherlands.

Vatican spokesman Lombardi lamented errors in Church facilities, but said that paedophile abuse is a widespread problem that also occurs in other institutions.

On Friday, Benedict is scheduled to meet the head of Germany's Catholic bishops, Robert Zollitsch, the Archbishop of Freiburg, who is expected to brief the pontiff on some 170 abuse allegations involving children at Catholic schools.