Is priestly celibacy the cause of clerical abuse? Not likely, victim says [CNA]

[CNA_News]

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/i...ffrey_Bruno_CC_BY_20_2_CNA_1_26_15.jpgVatican City, Feb 7, 2015 / 12:47 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- One survivor of priestly sexual abuse says that despite a common perception that clerical celibacy can lead to sex abuse of minors, most perpetrators likely had issues before entering the seminary.

“People don’t enter the priesthood and become child abusers, I don’t think that’s the case. I think that they had serious issues before entering Holy Orders,” Peter Saunders told journalists in a Feb. 7 press briefing.

Although there are “far too many” clerics who have committed sexual abuse of minors, “the vast majority of priests and religious will never hurt a child. I think it’s important to acknowledge that.”

Saunders said that the term “pedophile” is overused, and that the priests who abused him, rather than having any illness, “were very lonely.”

One of the 17 members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, Saunders spoke alongside the commission’s head, Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, giving journalists an update on the work they’re doing during their Feb. 6-8 meeting in Rome.

Abused by priests in his adolescence, Saunders went on to found the National Association for People abused in Childhood, which is dedicated to offering support for all abuse survivors and for developing greater resources in abuse prevention.

He was one of eight new members added to the Vatican commission last December.

Announced in December 2013, the commission was officially established by Pope Francis last March in order to explore various proposals and initiatives geared toward the improvement of norms and procedures for protecting children and vulnerable adults

This week’s meeting marks the first time the commission has met as a complete entity.

Cardinal O’Malley also addressed the issue of the alleged connection between priestly celibacy and sexual abuse, saying that it is a “big ticket item” for the commission, as well as the psychological screening of young men before entering seminary.

With 30 years as a bishop and a long tenure of handling cases of clerical sexual abuse in his various dioceses, the cardinal said that “I personally don’t believe that celibacy is necessarily what causes abuse.”

Although more studies need to be done on the topic, most show that “75-80 percent of abuse takes place in homes.” He also noted that with the current phenomenon of “serial cohabitation,” the problem of one’s partner abusing children is an increasing concern.

The John Jay College study commissioned by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2003 shows that since a more intense process of psychological screening has begun for young men who want to enter seminary, the number of clerical abuse cases “went down considerably,” the cardinal said.

Another high priority topic on the commission’s discussion list is accountability for bishops who fail to report cases of clerical sexual abuse in their dioceses. “Bishop’s accountability is most definitely something that is of concern and central to some of the work that is going to be carried out by commission,” Saunders said.

Cardinal O’Malley weighed in that the commission is “very, very concerned” about the issue of bishop’s accountability, and have already begun work on new policies that would help the Church to respond “in an expeditious way” if a bishop has not fulfilled his obligations.

The cardinal said that “there has to be consequences” for bishops who fail in their responsibilities.

He also spoke of the need to develop procedures that will allow these cases of clerical abuse “to be dealt with in an expeditious way rather than just having things open ended.”

The commission is currently in the process of forming several working groups to discuss specific areas in the protection of minors. So far a group addressing the needs and care of abuse survivors, as well as bishop’s accountability, have already met.

In partnership with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the commission has requested that each bishop’s conference send in a set of guidelines on how to prevent the abuse of minors and how to deal with cases of abuse.

Roughly 96 percent of bishop’s conferences have responded, with the remaining 4 percent being missionary countries who have limited resources and lack a diocesan structure.

Cardinal O’Malley said that the commission will soon reach out to offer help and support to these countries, so that they will have the means of creating effective guidelines.

“If you don’t have a clear path to respond in cases of sexual abuse, people tend to improvise and when they improvise they make many mistakes even though there’s all kinds of good will, and in those mistakes many innocent people suffer,” he said.

Pope Francis on Thursday sent a letter to all presidents of bishop’s conferences and religious superiors, asking for their full cooperation with the Vatican commission.

Cardinal O’Malley said that he, along with the other members of the commission, are “very grateful” that the Pope sent the letter, which was a suggestion the commission had made some time ago.

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Full article…

 

[petra22]

Seems like some progress is being made. I’m glad for that…
Praying for all abused and abusers… that there be an end to both categories…

Hail Mary…
Hail Mary…
Hail Mary…

 

[7_Sorrows]

I agree. I don’t believe celibacy has anything to do with what happened. I believe many of these priests had issues before entering the priesthood.
The Catholic church has clearly demonstrated they are confronting the problem in the hopes of this not happening again. Establishing the commission is a very good idea. Hopefully, in time, they will have very few or none of these cases happening again.

 

[weller2]

“People don’t enter the priesthood and become child abusers, I don’t think that’s the case. I think that they had serious issues before entering Holy Orders,” Peter Saunders told journalists in a Feb. 7 press briefing.

Nobody seriously claims that celibacy encourages pedophilia. Celibacy, however, makes priesthood attractive for homosexuals, which then molest young boys.

Saunders said that the term “pedophile” is overused, and that the priests who abused him, rather than having any illness, “were very lonely.”

Case in point.

Although more studies need to be done on the topic, most show that “75-80 percent of abuse takes place in homes.” He also noted that with the current phenomenon of “serial cohabitation,” the problem of one’s partner abusing children is an increasing concern.

Deflection.

The John Jay College study commissioned by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2003 shows that since a more intense process of psychological screening has begun for young men who want to enter seminary, the number of clerical abuse cases “went down considerably,” the cardinal said.

This is not what the study says:




The decline began in early 1980s, and by 2003, the acute crisis was over. The rate of incline is the same as rate of incline, meaning that a cohort pedophile priests entered active ministry starting in 1950s, and the decline was caused by these people aging, not any kind of disciplinary action (which did not start until after 2000).

Cardinal O’Malley also addressed the issue of the alleged connection between priestly celibacy and sexual abuse, saying that it is a “big ticket item” for the commission, as well as the psychological screening of young men before entering seminary.

Again, it appears that the Cardinal did not read the report he is quoting. Page 181:

Certain personality characteristics have also been shown to be unique to clergy offenders. Fones et al. (1999) studied the sexual struggles of 19 clergymen and found that they grappled with loneliness, masturbation conflicts, and a wish to be known beyond their role by others. Through a review of the available literature, Plante (1996) maintains that clergy offenders display shyness, loneliness, and passivity. Their MMPI scores illustrate the presence of depression, authority concerns, and addiction problems while Rorschach results indicated greater affect constriction than normal. Plante, et al. (1996) found that the presence of over-controlled hostility differentiated clergy offenders from non-offending priests. …] Irons and Laaser (1994) studied a sample of 25 male clergy who had been referred for sexual misconduct, primarily with adults. They came from backgrounds “characterized by rigidity and dysfunction with themes of abuse, had little insight into these areas, had insufficient training in the issue of transference/counter transference, had virtually no training or education concerning sexual abuse, domestic violence, addictive disease, or healthy professional boundaries, and failed to appreciate how their history of trauma affected their professional life.” Most of the individuals in the sample met the diagnosis for personality disorders with features of antisocial/psychopathic traits or paranoid, sadistic, or schizoid features. The results also illustrate that narcissistic and dependant traits clustered and modeled together in an exploitive manner.

What is interesting to note is the personality functioning of non-offending priests. In a review of research conducted after Vatican II, Doyle (2003) cites the unpublished work of Baars and Terruwe (1971), which reveals that 20-25% of the priests had serious psychiatric difficulties while 60-70% suffered from emotional immaturity. The authors assert that some of the priests experienced psychological disturbances developed in childhood whereas others developed difficulties while in the seminary. These results are consistent with the findings of Kennedy (1972), who concluded that 6% of priests were psychologically and emotionally developed, 29% were still developing, 57% were underdeveloped, and 8% were maldeveloped. Those who were underdeveloped were more comfortable with teenagers, had few friends their own age, and used intellectualization as a coping device. As cited by Scheper-Hughes (1998), Kennedy ascertains that “The vows of poverty and obedience infantilize the adult male, making him dependant on a series of father figures at a time when they should be in control of their own lives and responsible for the lives of children and young people. The vow of celibacy takes from the adult a main vehicle for the expression of intimate social relations. The end result is chronic infantilization.”

So there you have it. Catholic priests are not men, but overgrown children who seek affection from other children. And it appears that the formation process inhibits normal emotional development, so no amount of pre-formation screening is going to prevent seminaries from turning normal 19-year-olds into emotionally underdeveloped individuals.

The cardinal said that “there has to be consequences” for bishops who fail in their responsibilities.

Finally.

 

[Prodigal_Son]

Nobody seriously claims that celibacy encourages pedophilia. Celibacy, however, makes priesthood attractive for homosexuals, which then molest young boys.

Because that’s just what gay men do.

There was totally a way to make the same point without being recklessly offensive, weller.

 

[weller2]

If you read my statement to imply that homosexuals routinely molest children, then this is not what I had in mind.

That said, the majority of victims were teenage males. So the discussion of clerical abuse cannot be really divorced from the discussion of clerical homosexuality.

 

[Darryl1958]

If you read my statement to imply that homosexuals routinely molest children, then this is not what I had in mind.

That said, the majority of victims were teenage males. So the discussion of clerical abuse cannot be really divorced from the discussion of clerical homosexuality.

That’s right.

It is politically incorrect to focus on that though, even if the source of the problem traces back to the bathhouse culture that had been developing in the seminaries.

I think that Pope Benedict dealt with that source anyway, pc or not.

 

[jilly4ski]

“The vows of poverty and obedience infantilize the adult male, making him dependant on a series of father figures at a time when they should be in control of their own lives and responsible for the lives of children and young people. The vow of celibacy takes from the adult a main vehicle for the expression of intimate social relations. The end result is chronic infantilization.”

Well considering that diocesan priest don’t make vows at all and don’t promise to live in poverty (which is a domain of religious), I am having a hard time believing the numbers and analysis of your quotes.

 

[zz912]

Of course it’s not the cause of clerical abuse. If i were why do we see even higher rates of abuse in other denominations and religions? Why do we see MUCH higher rates in public schools? They don’t have celibacy requirements.