“I’m Worried That A Storm Is Going To Break Out Now,”

Father Stefan Dartmann, the head of Germany’s Jesuit order, said.

Dartmann said he knew of 25 former pupils who said they had been abused at presitgious Jesuit schools between 1975 and 1984 — 20 at the Canisius Kolleg in Berlin, 3 at the Hamburger St. Ansgar Schule in Hamburg and 2 at the Kolleg St. Blasien in St. Blasien in the Black Forest.

German media reported the first cases last week but

the number of alleged victims has been growing and the possibility of a wider scandal looms. “I’m worried that a storm is going to break out now,”

said the former director of Kolleg St. Blasien, Father Hans Joachim Martin.

Any scandal like this is big news, but it is even bigger in Germany because, in marked contrast to other countries like the United States and Ireland, little abuse is known to have taken place in Germany’s Roman Catholic Church.

Dartmann, who said the reports of abuse had been received by Germany’s Jesuit order as early as 1981, was quoted as saying he was ashamed nothing had been done.

He admitted that Father Klaus Mertes, director of the Canisius Kolleg, had first informed him about the problem in 2006.

“At the time, the victims asked for complete discretion,” he said in a statement. “Now that some victims have come forward, an investigation to uncover those cases of abuse fully is now possible and necessary.” He also apologised that those responsible at the time did not react in the way that was required.

Link (here) to the full article.

Photo of Sankt Ansgar Schule in Hamburg