German Church Abuse Hotline Gets Flood of Calls

BERLIN — The Roman Catholic Church’s phone line for victims of sexual abuse in Germany was overwhelmed with calls last week, the telephone counseling service’s first in operation.

Callers made 13,293 attempts to get through to church psychologists and social workers in three days, according to Andreas Zimmer, director of the counseling center at the Diocese of Trier, which is handling the nationwide free line. He said that employees handled 394 telephone consultations and a further 91 online consultations routed through the center in Trier, which lies along the German border with Luxembourg.

Critics questioned whether a church-run service would be trusted by victims of abuse by priests and in church institutions. But data showed that people called from 2,670 different phone numbers, and thus that many made multiple calls trying to connect, surprising even those managing the line.

“There was a gigantic number of attempts to get through,” Mr. Zimmer said. “It was significantly more, in fact, than we expected.”

Since January, hundreds of cases of sexual abuse connected to the church in Germanyhave come to light, embroiling even Pope Benedict XVI over his handling of an abusive priest who was moved to the Munich archdiocese in 1980 while Benedict was archbishop there. Questions have also arisen about Benedict’s role in handling the case of an American priest who abused as many as 200 deaf boys in Wisconsin, which was reviewed by an office he headed at the Vatican before being named pope.

Mr. Zimmer said that roughly three-quarters of the calls were from victims or the family members of victims. The majority of those called about sexual abuse, with a smaller number, roughly a third, wanting to discuss cases of physical abuse.

Other callers asked questions about church guidelines and the counseling service without giving additional information about themselves. There were also a few prank calls, Mr. Zimmer said.

Counselors listened to victims and relatives describe their cases and referred them to nearby professionals for longer-term therapeutic treatment. Several people called in what Mr. Zimmer described as “acute crises.”

The counselors also helped refer those who wanted to officially report abuse cases to local law enforcement officials, but did not themselves make reports to prosecutors.

“Sexual abuse takes away control from the victim, so it’s important for the victim to decide how to proceed,” Mr. Zimmer said.

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