Lorenz Wolf

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Lorenz Wolf (born September 12, 1955 in Edersberg, a district in the municipality of Scheyern in the district of Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm ) is a German Roman Catholic clergyman and official of the Archdiocese of Munich .

Life

Wolf comes from the parish of Edersberg. After graduating from high school, he studied law and Catholic theology at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich . In 1982 he was ordained a priest in Freising . He was then chaplain in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and subregens of the Herzogliches Georgianum , the seminary in Munich. He continued his studies in the field of canon law at the Institute for Canon Studies at the LMU Munich, renamed Klaus Mörsdorf Studies for Canon Studies in 2001, and graduated with a licentiate degree in canon law . In 1989 he was appointed Vice-Official in the Archbishop's Consistory and Metropolitan Court of Munich. Released from his post, he did his doctorate from 1995 to 1997 at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome with a thesis on papal legislation for the protection of cultural assets until the fall of the Papal States in 1870. iur. can. Back in Munich, on August 1, 1997, he took over the management of the Canon Law Department of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising as Ordinariatsrat . At the same time he became an official of the archdiocese. The following year the metropolitan chapter of the Frauenkirche elected him cathedral chapter and in 2004 cathedral dean .

From 1999 to 2011 he was chairman of the conference of officials from the German-speaking dioceses, from 2009 to 2011 also chairman of the conference of administrative canons of the dioceses, in which all canonical questions are dealt with.

At the request of the Bavarian bishops, Archbishop Reinhard Marx appointed him head of the Bavarian Catholic Office in 2009 . In this function "[...] [he] takes care of contacts with the state government , the state parliament , associations and institutions of the state, business and society on behalf of the bishops."

Responsibility in dealing with cases of abuse

On January 20, 2022, the law firm Westpfahl Spilker Wastl (WSW) presented an almost 1900-page expert report commissioned by the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, in which the responsibilities for the sexual "abuse of minors and adult wards by clerics and full-time employees in the area of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising from 1945 to 2019". The report lists "182 clerics (priests and deacons) accused of sexual abuse within the meaning of the investigation mandate". “In total, the experts assume at least 497 victims according to their findings. The report deals in detail with "65 cases with identified misconduct". According to the report, Lorenz Wolf is significantly involved in 12 of these cases of misconduct in his function as official of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising. His name is mentioned at least 630 times in the report. On 152 pages, the report explains in detail Wolf's key role in dealing with sexual abuse and goes into detail about Wolf's behavior in the 12 cases of abuse. The report literally states that “Dr. Wolf, the interests of the priests accused of sexual abuse were more important than those of the alleged victims. This attitude found expression, for example, in the fact that Dr. Wolf trivialized crimes and – in one case – even decades after the crime happened, embellished a priest's sexually abusive actions with his artistic interests (cf. case 42). In the opinion of the experts, he made a contribution in that priests who had become conspicuous were protected from measures that were established by the church and that served in particular the aim of preventing possible renewed attacks". Furthermore, the report states that Wolf met "suspected victims of abuse with a pronounced skeptical attitude": "For example, he assessed the statement made by a recognized victim of abuse under the (stressful) impression of the interview situation as learned and not credible (.. .).” Wolf did not comment on specific later questions to the experts. On the other hand, Wolf complained about a lawyer he had hired that the experts did not have “sufficient canon law training or expertise”. The Wolf lawyer describes the criticism of Wolf by the experts from the WSW law firm as “untrue, tendentious, arbitrarily selective”, which the Süddeutsche Zeitung regards as an affront to Archbishop Reinhard Marx, who commissioned the expert opinion. At the end of January 2022, Wolf announced that "all his offices and tasks would be suspended".

Worked in Bavarian Radio

He has been a member of the Broadcasting Council of Bavarian Broadcasting since 2010 . He was first chairman of the radio committee there and has been chairman of the broadcasting council since January 2014. At the end of January 2022, he handed over the chairmanship to his deputy “until further notice” after he was accused of errors in dealing with sexual abuse in his role as church lawyer for the Archdiocese of Munich-Freising and members of the Broadcasting Council had called for his resignation. The election to the board of directors, for which Wolf was intended, was postponed.

Participation in committees

honors

Works (in selection)

publications in book form

  • The error about a property of the person as a ground for nullity of marriage. A contribution to the interpretation of c. 1097 § 2. (= Dissertations, Canonistic Series, Volume 4). St. Ottilien 1990, ISBN 3-88096-574-9 .
  • Church and Monument Protection. The papal legislation for the protection of cultural assets until the fall of the Papal States in 1870. (= Church Law Library, Volume 7). (additional thesis, Rome, Lateranuniv., Diss., 1997). Munster 2003, ISBN 3-8258-6313-1 .

interviews

  • Compensation payments can only be a sign. Interview with Munich church radio on March 3, 2011 (online at: muenchner-kirchenradio.de )
  • Disentangling yes, dissolving no. In Bavaria, church and state have been negotiating the concordat for years. Interview with domradio.de (Cologne) on August 4, 2010 (online at: domradio.de )

web links

itemizations

  1. ↑ Klaus Mörsdorf studies at the LMU. kaththeol.uni-muenchen.de, accessed January 27, 2022 .
  2. ↑ Prelate Lorenz Wolf new head of the Bavarian Catholic Office , press release of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, November 5, 2009.
  3. ↑ Nicolas Richter: Abuse report: The cruel church. In: sueddeutsche.de. Süddeutsche Zeitung, January 20, 2022, retrieved January 22, 2022 .
  4. ↑ The presentation of the Munich abuse report. 20 January 2022, retrieved 22 January 2022 .
  5. ↑ Nina Magoley: Abuse report: The Causa Lorenz Wolf. deutschlandfunk.de, January 24, 2022, retrieved January 25, 2022 .
  6. ↑ Westphal et alii: Opinion on the sexual abuse of minors. tagesschau.de, January 20, 2022, accessed January 22, 2022 .
  7. ↑ Sexual abuse of minors and adult wards by clerics and full-time employees in the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising from 1945 to 2019 from January 20, 2022, p. 1157 online
  8. ↑ Bernd Kastner, Nicolas Richter, Annette Zoch: Report on abuse: When in doubt for the church. sueddeutsche.de, January 25, 2022, retrieved January 26, 2022 .
  9. ↑ Abuse in the Church - "Eckiger Tisch" disappointed that Cardinal Marx wants to remain in office , deutschlandfunk.de, published and accessed on January 27, 2022.
  10. ↑ Domkapitular Lorenz Wolf: Priest new boss of the BR broadcasting council. In: Munich Mercury . February 3, 2014.
  11. ↑ Causa Wolf: Election to BR board of directors postponed. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. January 22, 2022, retrieved January 28, 2022 .
  12. ↑ Federal Cross of Merit for Prelate Dr. Lorenz Wolf. In: Munich Mercury . August 1, 2012.
  13. ↑ Cathedral Dean Prelate Dr. Lorenz Wolf was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit for his services to the common good. ( Memento of March 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Press release from the Bavarian State Ministry for Education and Culture, August 1, 2012.
  14. ↑ Zoran Gojic: Constitution medal for 50 personalities from all over Bavaria. bayern.landtag, December 1, 2014, retrieved January 27, 2022 .
  15. ↑ Bavarian state parliament honors 32 personalities with the constitution medal. bayern.landtag.de, May 6, 2021, accessed January 27, 2022 .
personal data
SURNAME Wolf, Lorenz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Roman Catholic clergyman and official of the Archdiocese of Munich
BIRTH DATE September 12, 1955
PLACE OF BIRTH Edersberg , district of Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm