Christians around the world mark Easter

Some of the suppressed fury of German Catholics about the handling of the child abuse scandal spilled over into an attack on a bishop during Easter Sunday High Mass.

Bishop Felix Genn had to hold aloft an incense container to fend off the blows from a broomstick wielded by an angry parishioner trying to beat him on the altar of Germany’s ancient Münster Cathedral.

The attack was the first act of physical violence in a highly emotional Easter festival that has been overshadowed by months of child molestation accusations against priests.

The 44-year-old assailant ran forward at the beginning of the service and toppled the large Easter candle, then turned on the bishop.

“The bishop was able to defend himself using his incense censer,” Ulrich Bosse, a police spokesman, said. “Fortunately, brave representatives of the church and other worshippers ran forward to overpower and restrain the man until the police could arrive.” The cathedral was packed and the service continued, although members of the congregation reported that the bishop’s voice wavered while leading the prayers. The assailant has been taken for examination to a psychiatric clinic. It was not immediately known whether the attacker had been a victim of abuse.

The incident highlighted one of the most tense Easter festivals in Germany since the Second World War. Parishioners have made plain their unhappiness at the more than 300 child abuse cases that have been made public and, above all, at the poor management of the Church leadership.

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article7087400.ece