Can a priest be alone with 8 year olds in a classroom?

[JVSantos]

LOL, a child is more prone from being abuse by their own relatives, it’s a fact. Give me a break.

 

[oneGODoneCHURCH]

It is not just Priest it is teachers, coaches, etc… that are not allowed to be alone with nay child regaurdless of age. when I went through traing to teach the CCD class we were told this. Never place yourself in a postion that anyone can say anything inaproprate took place. It is sad, but it is the world we live in. I will not even go into the class room till there are at least 2 chlldren there so that I am on alone with just 1 and never ever shut the door.

 

[Lujack]

Agreed completely. This rule should have no place in the modern world if it exists (and I’m not at all convinced that it does).

I think its a misunderstanding of a more general rule not to be alone with individual children behind closed doors. But that’s something they taught me as a substitute teacher-keep the door open or at least let the room be visible when you’re alone with a child. That’s just good policy in general.

 

[StJudePray4Me]

Priests just get blamed more because they’re the ones who call us out for our sins. They are the moral authorities of our communities. We just expect more from them.

Personally, I think the reason for the outrage is not that the Church has more “per capita” child molesters than the average, but because actions were taken to PROTECT the molesters.

I don’t know why its a defense to ANY child molester to say “Well, there’s a lot of child molesters out there.” That makes it less heinous? I don’t think so.

 

[Corki]

Personally, I think the reason for the outrage is not that the Church has more “per capita” child molesters than the average, but because actions were taken to PROTECT the molesters.

I understand where you are coming from but if that was the real reason for the outrage, then you would see people much more outraged at public school teachers than clergy. In most school districts in the US, they are still protecting molesters, hiding behind privacy laws and union contracts, and are way behind the Catholic Church in any efforts to educate staff and families to avoid abusive situations.

I’m not saying people shouldn’t be upset about what has happened in the Church, just that people seem more angry about what happened in the past with clergy than they are with what is curently happening in other areas of our society.

 

[Jehoshua]

Im not absolutely certain about this, not being american and all.

but I have heard that if one wished to sue a public school employee you had better do it within 2 months or so of leaving teh school, because then a statute of limitations and protections comes in because they are government employees…

Now the timeframe may be questionable but I think its clear that at least in the US the governments the one doing the protecting of paedophiles and child abusers far more than the Catholic Church at the present time.

 

[Dakota_Roberts]

Teachers commit 4 times as many pedophil acts than priests related (in out of 1000 measurement). In my local paper almost every week there is one reported. Can teachers be alone with 8 years old?

Parents and relatives commit 10 time as many sexual abuses than priest. Can parents and relatives be with their children?

Since 1950 there were 100,000 priests in the US. From that one less than 1000 was accused with sexual abuses. Should we think that due to that the 99,000 others are suspect to crime?

I would like a source for this.

 

[hxcCatholic413]

Is that seriously a rule? That’s ridiculous. That’s got to be a diocesan rule somewhere- there’s no way that’s binding everywhere.

ya there’s a lot of guidelines that have been placed. If a priest speaks to a minor he must leave the door open as well as notifying another adult around him beforehand.

 

[jamanne]

In my past work experience in a long term care facility,we had a lot vulnerable people.Many of their only visitors were from Church or social groups.Many times we had suspicions about some visitors ,including family members and their behavior with these patients .The patients all had their own rooms ,so it was easy for bad things to happen and we had no proof,as a lot of our patients were non verbal.So now after a couple of incidents were proven all the doors have to be left open unless it’s a nurse doing personal care, its a busy place so we have lots off foot traffic up and down the halls,two persons were banned for physically touching a patient they didn’t know(adjusting position in a wheelchair)without consulting an aide. No person except recognized medical staff are allowed to have the doors closed and we all breathe al ittle easier.
On another note I have a bachelor brother in law who knew every kid in our small community as the families had lived there for generations,every Friday was payday and as the ice cream wagon came round on a Friday evening he used to get a big kick out of buying them all an ice cream treat ,likely about a dozen kids .the whole neighbour hood was visible to everyone so he had no reason to feel his actions were out of place.Now with all the accusations flying everywhere he stays away from the kids and just yells ‘hi’ from across the street,he doesn’t want suspicions falling on him , kind of sad for everybody.

 

[odile53]

At the psychiatric facility where I am interning, the policy is that no staff member is to be alone with a single patient at any time. Period, full stop. It’s as much for our protection as it is theirs, and it isn’t just for protection against violence. A few times a year a staffer gets accused by a patient of inappropriate sexual conduct, an investigation is launched, and during that time the staff member is transferred to non patient care duties, such as record review or working in the business office. Thankfully, there have been no verified charges for at least the past thirty years.

“Alone” (at this agency) means sequestered in an area which is not readily in view of another staff member. Our therapy rooms and activity rooms have half windows, where staff as well as patients can be in plain view at all times.

True, in this case we’re dealing with psychotic individuals, some of whom have antisocial tendencies and who are unreliable. But I think a quick look around you will tell you that not all such people are in institutions!

In any field of human service, you have to be able to protect the public while you get to the bottom of a complaint, just in case it proves to be a valid complaint. It’s grossly unfair, however, to assume guilt and place someone on unpaid administrative leave while the investigation proceeds. I don’t know how diocesan priests are remunerated, but they still have to live during an investigation. Protecting an innocent accused’s rights and livelihood are just part of due process.

I would think that a diocese could at least transfer an accused priest to non-priest duties (such as reviewing records, doing audits, or something of the sort) to protect his income while an investigation plays out.

And I personally don’t think the rise in the number of accused priests (or clergy from other denominations) is a fallout from the hyper-sexual society we live in. I think it’s more of an effect of the litigious society in which we live. Need money? Just find someone that you think you can sue! And since so many people think that the Catholic Church is rich, there’s a really easy target.