FOR 5778:  Power and Abuse in the Roman Catholic Church - Interdisciplinary Critique and Analysis

• Subject Area: Humanities ; Social and Behavioural Sciences
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 534685649

This interdisciplinary project analyses the genesis, constitution and effect of power and abuse in the context of the Roman Catholic Church. The aim is to develop a theological critique and new theory of power. The focus of interest is the connection between sexualised violence and both specifically Catholic and generally intersubjective power constellations, as well as the interweaving of individual attitudes with institutional factors. It seeks to provide a differentiated analysis of the systemic factors for the abuse of power within the church. This objective is pursued in three research clusters, each with its own thematic focus: the perspectives of those affected, institutionalisation and the constitution of power. What the clusters have in common is an orientation along the two axes of “generativity” and “gender”. Research desiderata currently exist in particular with regard to three complexes of questions: (1) conditions of vulnerability of persons and systems, (2) criticism of the orders and structures of power in institutions, and (3) the theological constitution of power imbalances and abuses of power. Accordingly, the first cluster is dedicated to the perspectives of those affected, the second cluster to institutional power, taking into account legal orders, and the third cluster to the constitutions of power, i.e. those patterns of thought and factors that promote, enable and stabilise potentially violent asymmetries. The three clusters examine reciprocally the institutional perpetrator-victim structures, including their facilitating, tabooing and concealing factors as well as their theological foundation. The theological repositioning of the issue of power is developed in an interdisciplinary way: The disciplines of education, philosophy and law are accordingly central, while political science and other specialist perspectives are also included. The intention is to examine the connection between the specific power dynamics of interpersonal relationships and the overarching constitutive factors of power and abuse of power in the Catholic Church in such a way that the model derived from this – as an analogy model and contrast – can contribute to an understanding of patterns of power and abuse of power outside the church. Specifically, the interdisciplinary, systematic-comparative cooperation promises insights into strategies for combating and preventing abuse at the theological, pedagogical and legal levels.

• DFG Programme: Research Units

Projects

• Agency: Vulnerability and Empowerment in the Biographies of Affected Individuals (Applicant Mandry, Christof )
• Autonomy of law or ius divinum? Critique of natural law from a power-theoretical perspective (Applicant Schmidt, Thomas M. )
• Coordination Funds (Applicant Middelbeck-Varwick, Anja )
• Knowledge about ‘third parties’ in the Catholic context. Dynamics of abuse of power and sexual violence against children and adolescents (Applicant Andresen, Sabine )
• On the Power of Gender Orders: Feminist Criticism of Roman Catholic Theological Reforms since 2010 (Applicant Middelbeck-Varwick, Anja )
• Religious communities' right to self-determination and the prevention of abuse of power (Applicant Sacksofsky, Ute )
• The Construction of Clerical power by the Community of Believers (Applicant Langner-Pitschmann, Annette )

• Spokesperson: Professorin Dr. Anja Middelbeck-Varwick