Heinrich Maria Janssen

Heinrich Maria Janssen

Heinrich Maria Janssen (born December 28, 1907 in Cattle near Kleve ; † October 7, 1988 in Hildesheim ) was Bishop of Hildesheim from February 3, 1957 to December 28, 1982 . Heinrich Janssen is the first bishop of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany to be personally accused of child sexual abuse .

resume

After graduating from the Collegium Augustinianum Gaesdonck , studying in Münster / Westf. and Freiburg and the ordination on July 29, 1934 by Bishop Clemens August Graf von Galen , Heinrich Maria Janssen worked as vicar and curate in the prelature of Schneidemühl until his expulsion in 1945 . Then he was chaplain in Bronnzell near Fulda until 1946 , then until 1949 chaplain in Ochtrup . On April 29, 1949 he was appointed pastor to St. Antonius in Kevelaer . From 1955 to 1957 he was pastor of St. Marien in Kevelaer and at the same time spiritual at the Collegium Augustinianum Gaesdonck.

On February 3, 1957 Janssen was by Pope Pius XII. appointed Bishop of Hildesheim. He received his episcopal consecration on May 14, 1957, Archbishop Lorenz Jaeger from Paderborn in St. Godehard in Hildesheim; Co-consecrators were the Bishop of Münster , Michael Keller , and the Bishop of Luxembourg , Léon Lommel . He was a popular pastor and dedicated himself particularly to the integration of the Catholic expellees in the north German diaspora .

Janssen's term of office included the consecration of the rebuilt Mariendome in Hildesheim on March 26, 1960 and the conclusion of the Concordat between the Holy See and the State of Lower Saxony on February 26, 1965 . already profaned again ), usually branch churches of existing parishes. The construction became necessary in order to be able to integrate the many expellees into the communities, which had grown by leaps and bounds. He was committed to the establishment of Heimstatt Röderhof (south of Hildesheim), a facility for children with mental and multiple disabilities, which was inaugurated in 1970, and to which he remained connected throughout his life.

After his retirement (December 28, 1982), Janssen consecrated his successor Josef Homeyer as bishop on November 13, 1983.

Janssen's grave was located in Hildesheim Cathedral in a small chapel on the south transept. In the course of the redesign of the cathedral, his remains were reburied in the newly created bishop's crypt on November 14, 2012.

Alleged child sexual abuse

In November 2015 it became publicly known that Janssen, as Bishop of Hildesheim, allegedly sexually abused an altar boy who was 10 years old for years between 1958 and 1963. The Diocese of Hildesheim forwarded the man's application for recognition of his suffering to the "Office for Questions of Sexual Abuse of Minors in the Church" of the German Bishops' Conference . The former acolyte received a payment of 10,000 euros in 2015. He criticized this as “cheap indulgence by the church” and demanded the removal of Janssen's remains from the bishop's crypt in Hildesheim Cathedral .

Hildesheim Bishop Norbert Trelle made it clear that the payment was not associated with a judgment or admission of guilt. An unofficial working group, which acted without commission and which also included former cathedral capitulars who had lived with Janssen in the bishop's house, exonerated the bishop and considered the allegations unproven. The Diocese of Hildesheim commissioned the Munich Institute for Practical Research and Project Consulting (IPP) to investigate the allegations in a larger context. “In the opinion of the experts, however, the abuse allegation against the Hildesheim ex-bishop Heinrich Maria Janssen, who died in 1988, can neither be proven nor refuted. [...] The experts identified three other people who made corresponding allegations against the bishop. Their descriptions were not suitable to validate the report of the previous acolyte. "

Another victim, who is now 70 years old, turned to Trelle's successor Heiner Wilmer SCJ at the beginning of October 2018 with his testimony about experiences of abuse in institutions of the Hildesheim diocese . Among other things, he reported on a sexual assault by Janssen himself. In addition, there were indications of a systematic approach by the alleged perpetrator. Wilmer announced another external investigation that should finally clear up the allegations against his predecessor. In April 2019, he presented the committee consisting of four experts, two psychologists and two lawyers , which is headed by the former Lower Saxony Minister of Justice Antje Niewisch-Lennartz ( Greens ). The investigation is also intended to expose any networks that were involved in the alleged abuse under Bishop Janssen. None of the experts is a member of the Roman Catholic Church.

Honors

• Janssen was an honorary citizen of Hildesheim, Kevelaer and the Cattle Community (today the city of Kleve).
• 1966: Dome of Honor of the Cathedral of Luxembourg
• 1983: Large Cross of Merit with Star (1966) and shoulder ribbon of the Federal Republic of Germany
• 1971: Lower Saxony State Medal

literature

• Thomas Scharf-Wrede: Heinrich Maria Janssen: Bishop of Hildesheim 1957–1982 , Regensburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-7954-2149-6 .
• Peter Wensierski : Naked below. In: Der Spiegel , November 7, 2015, p. 52.
• Ekkart Sauser :  Janssen, Heinrich Maria. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 20, Bautz, Nordhausen 2002, ISBN 3-88309-091-3 , Sp. 816-817.
• Renate Kumm: The Diocese of Hildesheim in the post-war period. Investigation of a diaspora diocese from the end of the Second World War to the Second Vatican Council (1945 to 1965). Hahnsche Buchhandlung Verlag, Hannover 2002, pp. 26-29.
• Thomas Flammer : Heinrich Maria Janssen (= witnesses of faith in Kevelaer . Volume 5). Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer 2008, ISBN 978-3-7666-0987-8 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Heinrich Maria Janssen in the catalog of the German National Library
• Entry on Heinrich Maria Janssen on catholic-hierarchy.org ; Retrieved April 11, 2017.
• Sharing knowledge - Hildesheim , website of the independent expert group on dealing with sexualised violence during the term of office of Bishop Janssen

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Wilmer: We have to deal with the darker side of our past. In: Katholisch.de. April 3, 2019, accessed April 3, 2019 . 
2. ↑ New burial place ( Memento from January 28, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
3. ^ For the first time a German bishop suspected of abuse. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . November 6, 2015, accessed April 3, 2019 . 
4. ^ First accusation of abuse against German bishop. In: Der Tagesspiegel . KNA , November 6, 2015, accessed April 3, 2019 . 
5. ↑ Peter Janssen: A step back into the right light. In: Rheinische Post . November 26, 2016, accessed April 3, 2019 . 
6. ↑ The Diocese of Hildesheim publishes reports on allegations of abuse. In: spiegel.de . October 16, 2017, accessed November 13, 2018 . 
7. ^ New allegations in Hildesheim. In: vaticannews.va . November 13, 2018, accessed November 13, 2018 . 
8. ↑ Ex-altar boy: Had to strip me naked in front of Bishop Janssen. In: Katholisch.de . November 13, 2018, accessed April 3, 2019 . 
9. ↑ Andreas Gebbink: New allegations against Bishop Heinrich Maria Janssen. In: NRZ . November 18, 2018, accessed September 24, 2019 . 

predecessor	Office	successor
Joseph Godehard Machens	Bishop of Hildesheim 1957–1982	Josef Homeyer