What should also encourage us is, judging from the results, although the approach to the problem seems stern , the consequences of the approach are fair.
Sometimes commentaries turn up positing that these investigations and remedial measures could potentially turn into witch hunts and that it seems unfair that people have to placed on administrative leave even before a complaint can be verified. I still think it’s a good combination of stern but fair, since the same article reports :
Of the 26 priests placed on administrative leave following the grand jury report, eight have subsequently been declared suitable for ministry
It wouldn’t be so surprising either to discover those who’ve been declared suitable for duty again believe that it (being removed) is a sacrifice they are willing to make , if it means we get the upper hand on the problem and eradicate it. And on that same note . . .
We also have to be prudent, to be extremely careful not to buy into the mainstream media hype which is overinflated with a lot of BS . Catholic Culture is an excellent site , but let the reader be sure to note that they said what is going on today is , as it is on the larger scale. mostly in response to*** past allegations***.
To give us an idea , we can refer to the USCCB’s independent audit and subsequent results published in 2011 by the
John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New York pertaining to the Annual Report on the Implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. (* PDF)
usccb.org/issues-and-action/child-and-youth-protection/upload/2011-annual-report.pdf
We get ready to jump when we read -
During the 2011 audit period, 683 adults who were victims/survivors of abuse in the past came forward to report an allegation for the first time. Allegations were made against 551 priests and seven deacons. Of the accused clerics, 253 are deceased, 58 had already been laicized, 184 have been removed from ministry, and 281 had been named in previous audits.
Yet when we take breath, slow down and read it again , we discover that for the entire United States, the amount of allegations in 2011 given by actual minors - read:
recent, was only 21 . . . for the whole country. The rest were allegations from the past.
Now of these 21 allegations of a more
current nature , 7 were
credible , 3 were
false . 5 were
boundary , 3 are still
under investigation . . . and they don’t seem to give any classification of the remaining 3 allegations.
Three percent of allegations made during the 2011 audit period were by current minors. . . Of the twenty-one allegations made by minors, seven were considered credible by law enforcement; three were determined to be false, five were determined to be boundary violations, and three are still under investigation.
For the sake of argument, we might say that roughly two thirds are true - 15 allegations total. But something else becomes clear when we simply look at the totals.
The total number of allegations for inicidents which may have occurred in the entire USA in 2011 is 21 . Now to provide some perspective : (as of 2012) there are 38,964 priests and 17,289 permanent deacons in the USA .
What these figures tell us is that most of the clergy sexual abuse problem is already in the past. The United States in particular continues to improve in this regard , thanks in large part to the
Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People established in June 2002 by the USCCB.
As Cardinal Dolan says in the Preface of the 2011 Report , the objective now is to be vigilant
While this report supports the conclusion of both studies done by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice— that the majority of allegations are way in the past—the Church must continue to be vigilant. The Church must do all she can never to let abuse happen again. And we must all continue to work with full resolve toward the healing and reconciliation of the victims/survivors. As we continue this important mission in the service of the Church.
The bulk of cases occurred decades ago,” said Karen Terry, PhD., John Jay’s principal investigator for the report. “The increased frequency of abuse in the 1960s and 1970s was consistent with the patterns of increased deviance of society during that time.”
old.usccb.org/comm/archives/2011/11-105.shtml
Don’t let the mainstream media fool you into thinking this is a problem whose proportions are applicable to the present.
In the US, as Regina Love says so well , the only thing more MONUMENTAL than what the Catholic Church has done to eradicate the clergy sex abuse problem , is the mainstream media’s monumental efforts to deny the eradication.The mainstream media really does put the “
mental” in
monumental.
