Proceedings against senior pastor suspended: secretary withdraws criminal complaint

The church of Obbürgen.

Image: Nadia Schärli (September 22, 2020)

The pastor of the gentry had to resign in September. This is because he sent the parish clerk a photo of the penis. The woman married to the president of the church council reported the case to superiors and filed a complaint against the pastor.

Now the process is suspended, as the responsible prosecutor Alexandre Vonwil explains to our newspaper. At a conciliation hearing with the prosecutor last week, the priest apologized for the woman’s photo and explained that he had accidentally sent it. He also felt sorry for all the negative feelings and consequences the woman had suffered as a result. The latter accepted the apology and withdrew the criminal complaint.

“In this case, we consider it sensible to convene the two parties to a settlement negotiation. The parties welcomed this dance with gratitude, ”explains Alexandre Vonwil. The path of the apologetic debate was evidently the correct one. “The conversation seemed to do them good. The pastor and the secretary left the prosecution with some relief. “

Negotiation of agreements as a viable option

A conversation instead of the continuation of the criminal process: According to Alexandre Vonwil, this has been possible since the new Criminal Procedure Code of 2011 in cases in which, as in the present case, it involves crimes of sexual harassment and distribution of pornographic material to unsuspecting people.

If the secretary had followed your criminal complaint, the process could have been prolonged. Vonwil does not want to comment on a possible outcome. However, it affirms that both acts are only punishable if there is a malicious action.

A month earlier, the priest withdrew his contraindication to the secretary, the church council president, and the vice president. He presented this because he felt his honor had been hurt by the accusations.

The pastor was not available for comment. Church council president Edi Scodeller and Monika Rebhan Blättler, president of the Roman Catholic regional church in Nidwalden, also declined to comment.

The Stansstad parish approach corresponds to the Diocese of Chur’s concept of protection, which has zero tolerance for sexual offenses. It says that, in any event, a complaint will be made to state law enforcement authorities if there is knowledge of a criminal act that must be prosecuted ex officio under state criminal law. The concept of protection is a consequence of the dark past of the Catholic Church.

Professor of Canon Law supports the approach of the Council of Churches

Adrian Loretan, a professor of canon law and state church law at the University of Lucerne, also called for decisive action by the church, as he told our newspaper about a month ago. Sending a photo with an erect penis is a form of sexual harassment in the workplace. “No employer should allow that.” For too long, the Catholic Church has not believed the alleged victims and has tried to make excuses as much as possible. But mercy is not appropriate in such cases. “Clear limits must be drawn so that there is legal awareness. Otherwise, you create a world where you can sexually harass people. “

Gabriela Riemer-Kafka, emeritus professor and professor of labor law at the University of Lucerne, can understand that the ecclesiastical council ended the employment relationship with the pastor. In lighter cases (pornographic emails), rescission without notice is usually only appropriate in case it reappears after a prior warning, he told our newspaper in late October. But: “Since this is a person with a role of role model and the Church already has problems in this regard, in my opinion a stricter standard could also be justified.”