I know this is a very sensitive topic, but

[dje101]

Coming from a protestant background and considering coming to the Catholic Church, I just need to know. What is the Church’s take on the priests who have molested children, and what has the Church done in response to those priests’ actions? If possible, could anyone provide any links to cases that the Church has dealt with as well as any public statements that they’ve made regarding the subject? Thanks.

 

[paperbackwinter]

It may be sensitive, but it needs to be address regardless of the pain and embarrassment.

My archdiocese is is relatively untouched in terms of his kind of abuse. I know we’re not the exception. Aside from making a concerted effort to remove these men from their duties, the Church, my archdiocese, offers free counseling to any one who has been abused by a clergy member regardless of faith. They will also help you report the situation to the authorities if you need that kind of help. I doubt we’re the only ones.

They do not hide this on their website either. It’s in plain site.

As I see it, and I’m no expert, part of the problem with sexual abuse by clergy in the Catholic Church has been more an issue with who the Church trusted during these times. The Church, as did most of world at the time, believed the psychiatric community’s claim that sexual abuse could be cured. So the sent many of these priest for treatment and, when they were declared “cured,” they were sent back to their duties.

That’s not an excuse. We let a lot of people down and failed to protect our most vulnerable members. It appears to me that we’re cleaning that up.

I pray that the LORD please help us.

 

[puzzleannie]

Coming from a protestant background and considering coming to the Catholic Church, I just need to know. What is the Church’s take on the priests who have molested children, and what has the Church done in response to those priests’ actions? If possible, could anyone provide any links to cases that the Church has dealt with as well as any public statements that they’ve made regarding the subject? Thanks.

every diocese has a link on their website called “child protection” or “what we are doing to protect children” or something similar which can tell you the policy in your area. the link will also direct you to the official who receives and initiates investigation of complaints–and all are investigated–and how they provide assistance for victims. In addition any diocese who is involved in litigation will have a link inviting new complaints that should be heard and updates on that situation, and on financial settlements.

the us bishops also have a link on their site.
usccb.org/ocyp/

there are a couple of ongoing independent sites that track complaints, investigations, who has been charged, convictions, credible cases and dispositions of such complaints.

When the trickle of reported cases became a flood about 10 years ago the US Bishops hired independent consultants first to come up with a plan to investigate, stop and prevent abuse, and another to research causes and extent of the problem. That latter report, called the John Jay report, was released 2002=04 and is searchable on line.

The treatment of priests so accused is governed by canon law, and by civil law if their is criminal activity. Do bear in mind that even as recently as 10 years ago some states, including those where some of the most notorious serial abusers did their crimes, had no mandatory reporting laws, which are now in effect in every US state. There is also not much that can be done with a person against whom no criminal complaints have been filed or no convictions obtained. The civil authority also has some responsibility in this problem. Also there is a moral obligation on the part of victims to report but at times the church and civil authority have made this so onerous that reports were no made in time to prevent further abuse.

Also recall that once a priest is dismissed from the clerical state (laicized, removed from the priesthood) the Vatican or local bishop has no control over him, and unless he is a registered sex offender with the government, no way to track him if he moves elsewhere. This is the underlying reason why in the past, and even now, the preferred method of dealing with such a priest is to assign him someplace where he has no contact with children, rather than simply dismissing him. Unless the civil authority makes a credible case and obtains a conviction, that may be the only way to prevent him from striking again.

 

[cho_pilo]

Coming from a protestant background and considering coming to the Catholic Church, I just need to know. What is the Church’s take on the priests who have molested children, and what has the Church done in response to those priests’ actions? If possible, could anyone provide any links to cases that the Church has dealt with as well as any public statements that they’ve made regarding the subject? Thanks.

Sin is sin regardless of who commits it. Priest should be punished if proven guilty. Of course, there should be a due process.

 

[aicirt]

I posted this elsewhere but I’ll report it again. EWTN, on THE WORLD OVER, did an interview re. this subject. When the abuse happened, some lay people went to the Vatican to discuss it and were told that it was an issue unique to the US. They said it wasn’t. Ended up that we now have the scandal in Ireland etc. Those interviewed also stated that we have not yet heard from the mission Church and advised that we should be prepared because it isn’t over.

Do I think it is limited to the Catholic Church? No. Google sex abuse among Protestants and you’ll find that they have 230 reports a year re.the same abuse.

 

[RosaryFan]

I posted this elsewhere but I’ll report it again. EWTN, on THE WORLD OVER, did an interview re. this subject. When the abuse happened, some lay people went to the Vatican to discuss it and were told that it was an issue unique to the US. They said it wasn’t. Ended up that we now have the scandal in Ireland etc. Those interviewed also stated that we have not yet heard from the mission Church and advised that we should be prepared because it isn’t over.

Do I think it is limited to the Catholic Church? No. Google sex abuse among Protestants and you’ll find that they have 230 reports a year re.the same abuse.

I agree with you. It certainly isn’t limited to the Catholic Church. It’s not only among Protestatns, too, but every other group in the world as well. It just seems the Catholic Church is the main target and sole focal point of the media.

I find it quite ironic that through all these years, the Catholic Church is the one faith that stood firm and held its ground on the subject of homosexuality, pornography, fornication, etc. (much to the persecution of others), but when these evils manifest themselves in their ugly ways, the Catholic Church is the one taking the brunt of the media-bashing. Ironic.

I’m not defending in any way the actions of the priests or the hierarchy for their scandalous actions, but this is a problem that is rampant in society - not just the Catholic Church. The problem needs to be addressed in society as well. With pornography so readily available on the internet, television, iPhones, etc. (literally, right at our fingertips), the problem will only escalate from here. If you look at the statistics, the percentage of boys and girls that are molested by the age of 13, is staggering! It’s not just the Church, it is EVERYWHERE.

 

[lizaanne]

I’m not defending in any way the actions of the priests or the hierarchy for their scandalous actions, but this is a problem that is rampant in society - not just the Catholic Church. The problem needs to be addressed in society as well. With pornography so readily available on the internet, television, iPhones, etc. (literally, right at our fingertips), the problem will only escalate from here. If you look at the statistics, the percentage of boys and girls that are molested by the age of 13, is staggering! It’s not just the Church, it is EVERYWHERE.

This is an extremely important point to remember when discussing this topic. It in NO WAY dismisses the criminality of these men, but it puts it in perspective. If someone is going to point a finger at the Catholic Church they better get a lot of fingers out and start pointing them just about every other direction in society as well. Only because the mainstream media have chosen to target the Catholic Church on this topic has it become the one source for most fingers pointing this way. When in reality the vast majority of these crimes happen OUTSIDE the Catholic Church.

~Liza

 

[RosaryFan]

This is an extremely important point to remember when discussing this topic. It in NO WAY dismisses the criminality of these men, but it puts it in perspective. If someone is going to point a finger at the Catholic Church they better get a lot of fingers out and start pointing them just about every other direction in society as well. Only because the mainstream media have chosen to target the Catholic Church on this topic has it become the one source for most fingers pointing this way. When in reality the vast majority of these crimes happen OUTSIDE the Catholic Church.

~Liza

Yes, so in order to address the problem, it needs to be addressed in society as a whole, not just in the Catholic Church. This should be done by eliminating pornography, as the Church teaches; not normalizing promiscuity and fornication, but by promoting chastity and celibacy until marriage, as the Church teaches; cleaning up television and movies by removing the inundation of sexual content so that they can actually be viewed by our young people. Getting back to the basic teachings of the Church by placing decency back into society would be a good start.

 

[TheRealJuliane]

Coming from a protestant background and considering coming to the Catholic Church, I just need to know. What is the Church’s take on the priests who have molested children, and what has the Church done in response to those priests’ actions? If possible, could anyone provide any links to cases that the Church has dealt with as well as any public statements that they’ve made regarding the subject? Thanks.

As I understand it, these usually homosexual pedophile priests were admitted to seminaries in the aftermath of Vatican II, during the liberal 60’s and early 70’s. It took years in many cases for the victims to come forward, and if they did, the prevalent thought at the time was that pedophilia could be cured or at least dealt with. I don’t think the Church was trying to hide or protect the priests but some cases might have seemed or might have been more like protection. I’m sure there was enough blame to go around on all parts except the victims. Heck, before Roe v. Wade, girls who got pregnant were hidden and spirited away to have their babies, there was shame in these things so society did not want it exposed.

And I don’t want to get too far into conspiracy theory but there are people who swear that this invasion of seminaries by homosexuals was meant to undermine the Church and so to tear it down from within. It certainly has accomplished that in many ways. Look at how many people have left the Church because of the very small number of very visible molestation cases (again, not defending the priests but it’s not widespread considering how many religious there are).

In any field that includes access to children, there will be pedophiles. Protestant churches have their problems, schools have their problems, day cares have problems with it, girl and boy scout organizations have a problem. But you almost never hear of anything except the Catholic Church - it’s as though we invented pedophilia!

Seminaries are a lot more careful about admitting practicing homosexuals and pedophiles now, and of course psychiatry has found out that pedophilia is not usually curable even with tons of therapy, medication, etc. So the response to any recent molestation cases would be completely different from that of the 1960’s and 1970’s. There are better screening instruments to uncover pedophiles and I hope the Church uses them to screen applicants to seminary.

I think the Church has been very open and honest about what happened in the past. And the problem is being and has been dealt with very openly.