Jehovah's Witnesses failed to report 1,000 alleged perpetrators

[Son_of_Niall]

More than 1,000 members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses have been identified by the church as perpetrators of child sexual abuse since 1950, but not one was reported to police, an inquiry has heard.

The Sydney hearing was told the church adopted a scriptural response to abuse, which it abhorred, and had files relating to 1,006 alleged perpetrators, dating back to 1950.

The process required witnesses to prove abuse took place, and no allegations were ever reported to police.

abc.net.au/news/2015-07-27/jehovahs-witnesses-child-sexual-abuse-royal-commission/6649340

 

[JurisPrudens]

And still everyone continues to blame Catholics and celibacy for that… :banghead:

 

[ctb95]

And still everyone continues to blame Catholics and celibacy for that… :banghead:

And not only do Jehovah’s Witnesses not have celibacy, they don’t have any ordained ministers either.

 

[Pepband_Mom]

They have a $60 million lawsuit going on in Australia & lost a case in California where a young lady won an astounding $20 million plus lawsuit against them by herself.

 

[Bob_Crowley]

And still everyone continues to blame Catholics and celibacy for that… :banghead:

I happened to be at a training session yesterday, and the lady doing the training (an arch-diocesan official who seemed to know her stuff) commented that “Statistically, the Catholic Church is responsible for around 30% of abuse cases.”

I’m assuming she was talking about child abuse statistics, and also that that this referred to Australian statistics. I don’t know if this included all child abuse cases, including those where family or close relations were responsible, or if this was institutional abuse only (schools, churches, clubs and the like).

This means that the other 70% were not carried out by members of the Catholic Church.

She also said that about 2 to 4% of priests were involved or predisposed to this behaviour (which means 96 to 98% were not), and that the general percentage of the (male?) population who were likewise involved or predisposed was about 2 to 4%. Which means our priests are made up of the same raw material as the general population.

Which should come as no surprise to anybody.

I think the JW’s are going to come in for a hammering from the legal fraternity, over here anyway.

 

[Son_of_Niall]

I happened to be at a training session yesterday, and the lady doing the training (an arch-diocesan official who seemed to know her stuff) commented that “Statistically, the Catholic Church is responsible for around 30% of abuse cases.”

I’m assuming she was talking about child abuse statistics, and also that that this referred to Australian statistics. I don’t know if this included all child abuse cases, including those where family or close relations were responsible, or if this was institutional abuse only (schools, churches, clubs and the like).

This means that the other 70% were not carried out by members of the Catholic Church.

She also said that about 2 to 4% of priests were involved or predisposed to this behaviour (which means 96 to 98% were not), and that the general percentage of the (male?) population who were likewise involved or predisposed was about 2 to 4%. Which means our priests are made up of the same raw material as the general population.

Which should come as no surprise to anybody.

I think the JW’s are going to come in for a hammering from the legal fraternity, over here anyway.

Statistically speaking, the Catholic Church is much larger than JWs. But I wonder what the stats would say about, say the Boy Scouts.

 

[Pepband_Mom]

I happened to be at a training session yesterday, and the lady doing the training (an arch-diocesan official who seemed to know her stuff) commented that “Statistically, the Catholic Church is responsible for around 30% of abuse cases.”

I’m assuming she was talking about child abuse statistics, and also that that this referred to Australian statistics. I don’t know if this included all child abuse cases, including those where family or close relations were responsible, or if this was institutional abuse only (schools, churches, clubs and the like).

This means that the other 70% were not carried out by members of the Catholic Church.

She also said that about 2 to 4% of priests were involved or predisposed to this behaviour (which means 96 to 98% were not), and that the general percentage of the (male?) population who were likewise involved or predisposed was about 2 to 4%. Which means our priests are made up of the same raw material as the general population.

Which should come as no surprise to anybody.

I think the JW’s are going to come in for a hammering from the legal fraternity, over here anyway.

I’m thinking her 30% is way off… Since the Church implemented the Dallas Charter 10+ years ago here in the States, abuse reports have diminished to a few a year in the whole USA. Pew research did a detailed study on this??? But really, 30% sounds quite unreasonable does it not? I would agree with your # crunching only 2-4% of priests have been involved & that is way < than the general population.

It would be of utmost importance to keep the lid on this one in the States, especially with the # of abused involved. Damage control in motion down under?

 

[Faithdancer]

Statistically speaking, the Catholic Church is much larger than JWs. But I wonder what the stats would say about, say the Boy Scouts.

BSA!

 

[Bob_Crowley]

I’m thinking her 30% is way off… Since the Church implemented the Dallas Charter 10+ years ago here in the States, abuse reports have diminished to a few a year in the whole USA. Pew research did a detailed study on this??? But really, 30% sounds quite unreasonable does it not? I would agree with your # crunching only 2-4% of priests have been involved & that is way < than the general population.

It would be of utmost importance to keep the lid on this one in the States, especially with the # of abused involved. Damage control in motion down under?

She’s the expert, not me. It’s part of her job to know these things.

As I said, these are Australian statistics, not US.

They may refer to a period of time, or the overall number of alleged cases that have been presented to the courts.

It doesn’t seem unreasonable to me, since the Catholic Church is the biggest church in Australia, despite its Protestant (Anglican) beginnings.

Damage control has been undertaken, and there are more controls and measures in place to try to avoid a repeat of the abuses that have taken place. Applicants for seminary positions now are subjected to psychological tests, and obviously the mere fact seminarians live cheek by jowl with other seminarians and their trainers means that they’re under observation, in one way or another for quite a long time.

 

[7_Sorrows]

Did she mean abuse cases as a whole or just among religious groups the Catholic church is responsible for 30% of cases.
That seems high to me too considering the steps being taken now to prevent child abuse.

Is the article only referring to JW’s in Australia since 1950?

 

[Bob_Crowley]

Did she mean abuse cases as a whole or just among religious groups the Catholic church is responsible for 30% of cases.
That seems high to me too considering the steps being taken now to prevent child abuse.

Is the article only referring to JW’s in Australia since 1950?

I went looking for statistics on child abuse percentages involving the Catholic Church, but I couldn’t find it on the net. No doubt its out there somewhere.

I’m prepared to accept the 30%, although I suspect it refers to a time frame.

The article appears to be dealing with child abuse cases involving the JW’s since 1950. This would be in Australia only. No doubt they, like just about every other organisation with children in it’s ranks, would have other cases overseas, including the US.

It doesn’t surprise me. I didn’t become Catholic until 1996 or 97, but even as far back as 1990 or 91, my old Presbyterian pastor said he thought that I’d become Catholic.

But he also mentioned what he saw as the forthcoming scandal of child abuse cases in the Catholic Church, saying “There’s been a lot of them!”.

And he died in January 1992. That was 23 years ago, and he probably warned me a year or so before that. So it’s been known for a while. He knew about it a quarter of a century ago.

 

[7_Sorrows]

I went looking for statistics on child abuse percentages involving the Catholic Church, but I couldn’t find it on the net. No doubt its out there somewhere.

I’m prepared to accept the 30%, although I suspect it refers to a time frame.

The article appears to be dealing with child abuse cases involving the JW’s since 1950. This would be in Australia only. No doubt they, like just about every other organisation with children in it’s ranks, would have other cases overseas, including the US.

It doesn’t surprise me. I didn’t become Catholic until 1996 or 97, but even as far back as 1990 or 91, my old Presbyterian pastor said he thought that I’d become Catholic.

But he also mentioned what he saw as the forthcoming scandal of child abuse cases in the Catholic Church, saying “There’s been a lot of them!”.

And he died in January 1992. That was 23 years ago, and he probably warned me a year or so before that. So it’s been known for a while. He knew about it a quarter of a century ago.

Do you think he knew because some of those abused had left the Catholic church and joined other churches?

 

[Bob_Crowley]

Do you think he knew because some of those abused had left the Catholic church and joined other churches?

No, I think he knew because he was pretty well informed, both about church and political matters. Ministers get together in their fraternals, and they learn a few things then. I think he also had close ties to the National Party, which is a conservative political party over here.

It would have nothing to do with offending priests leaving the Catholic Church and offending in other churches. I doubt if that would have been a significant factor at all.

I also emailed the “archdiocesan official” I quoted, and she sent me the following reply as to her source for the 30% figure. I simply copied and pasted it.

SInce 75% of all cases occur in families, I would have to assume the 30% referred to institutional abuse.

The figures I quoted came from Francis Sullivan, Chair of the Truth Justice and Healing Council, appointed by the Australian Bishops. Francis gave those figures at a forum conducted in Brisbane on 23 March, this year.

The figures of between 2 & 4% also came from Francis Sullivan and the time frame covers the last 50 - 60 years in the church. Last year Pope Francis indicated that he believed that about 4% of clergy worldwide, in the last 50 - 60 years had offended.

Regarding sexual abuse in families the figure is in the order of 75% of all sexual abuse occurs in families. Indeed, 69% of sexual abuse is perpetrated by heterosexual married men. These are generally situational offenders I believe.