TV investigation: Abbey and politicians allegedly covered up abuse

The church and government in Switzerland are alleged to have covered up abuse at a monastery school. This was reported by Swiss television in the current "Rundschau" programme on Wednesday. "Research by 'Rundschau' shows how the rector, Benedictine abbot and government covered up the offences for years," the SRF broadcaster announced in advance on Wednesday. The offences are said to have taken place at the Karl Borromäus College in the canton of Uri. Benedictine monks from the Mariastein monastery in northern Switzerland ran a boarding school there.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the then headmaster was in close contact with the school authorities, according to SRF. Following complaints from parents, he informed the school supervisory authority about the incidents at the church college. However, according to "SRF", both the headmaster and the school supervisory authority were of the opinion that the "misconduct" of a priest did not justify immediate expulsion: "Fr Notker's behaviour must be described as unseemly. However, it is unlikely to be a criminal offence," "SRF" quotes from documents. The accusations ranged from requests to undress to taking photos and sexual assault. One of the priests was later suspended - and subsequently transferred to another school in the canton of Solothurn.

Ex-abbot apologises - monastery speaks of omission

In a reaction to the investigations, the former abbot of the monastery, Peter von Sury, apologised and said: "The church is predestined to act as a perpetrator organisation in which people who commit such crimes find or have found an ideal setting. They have been protected." He is glad that his mother did not send him to a Catholic boarding school back then: He now hopes that the victims from back then will come forward to support them in their personal reappraisal.

Sury is also accused of not having acted consistently until the end of his term of office in January 2025. The monastery announced this in a statement on Wednesday: In retrospect, the abbot is "fully aware of the seriousness of this omission" - and he regrets it immensely. Sury is said to have learnt of the abuse cases during his term of office in 2010. He currently sits on various committees to investigate abuse in the Catholic Church and is a representative of the order for a Swiss abuse pilot study.

Politics announces reappraisal

In its statement, the monastic community admitted that the sexual abuse was "obviously" known to the school and monastery management at the time. In one case there had been no reaction, in another the management had only approached the Director of Education in Uri under pressure from an affected father. According to the monastery, it is no longer possible to determine whether and to what extent individual monks in the monastery community were aware of the incidents. "In any case, it was never openly discussed in the community and the kind of reappraisal that would be a matter of course today was not carried out."

Representatives of the Swiss canton of Uri announced on Wednesday that they would investigate the actions of the monastery and the government in this case. According to one politician, there has been little information about the incidents to date. They therefore want to work together with the University of Zurich and are calling on those affected to come forward in order to uncover cases and mechanisms that enabled or even favoured sexual abuse. (KNA)