Perspectives on the priestly abuse scandals?

[user1234]

As far as statistics go, priests are far safer than just about anyone else. I seem to remember reading somewhere that out of 45,000 priests, there was 7 cases. Other professions/General Public have upward of 4%, I think. Also I’m pretty sure that child sex abuse happens far more often among celebrities and Hollywood actors.

 

[Tarpeian_Rock]

Also recall that a lot of this seems to have taken place during the 1960s through the 1980s - e.g. the “sexual revolution”. There is a lot of collateral damage from that so called movement - divorce, drugs, abortion, etc. One could argue that as society was affected, so were some members of the priesthood, even though the numbers are still small.

Although priests do have a calling, they are still human and subject to temptation. Some clergy enter religious life after coming to God from negative life circumstances. Spiritual warfare can go either way sometimes.

Pray for our priests, even the few who did these things.

The problem with this line of thought, though, is that by and large the offenders during this period were TRAINED before - in some cases long before - the “sexual revolution” and the craziness of the late '60’s - 70’s. While those turbulent times did arguable affect many seminaries, many offenders would have been long out of seminary by that time. And all of which still doesn’t speak to the cover-ups and the “Where’s Waldo” transfers.

 

[Tarpeian_Rock]

As far as statistics go, priests are far safer than just about anyone else. I seem to remember reading somewhere that out of 45,000 priests, there was 7 cases. Other professions/General Public have upward of 4%, I think. Also I’m pretty sure that child sex abuse happens far more often among celebrities and Hollywood actors.

You aren’t reading the right statistic. There were more than 7 cases in just our diocese.

 

[shockerfan]

You aren’t reading the right statistic. There were more than 7 cases in just our diocese.

The statistic has to do with credible cases of abuse over the last several years.

Look to see when the cases in your diocese occurred…I’m willing to bet most were between 1950 and 2002, which is in line with the John Jay study.

The point is this: There was a problem of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church commensurate with the incident rate of sexual abuse in the rest of society. The Church in the US implemented reforms, then the rate dropped substantially to less than 0.02% (7 credible accusations divided by 40,000+ priests). That rate is lower than any other institution you can name.

 

[mattp0625]

The problem with this line of thought, though, is that by and large the offenders during this period were TRAINED before - in some cases long before - the “sexual revolution” and the craziness of the late '60’s - 70’s. While those turbulent times did arguable affect many seminaries, many offenders would have been long out of seminary by that time. And all of which still doesn’t speak to the cover-ups and the “Where’s Waldo” transfers.

I understand your point, as many state that the sexual revolution did affect seminaries.

However, priests aren’t 100% sheltered from society.

Isn’t it possible one could have been in seminary in the 60s and an ordained priest in the 70s?

I still believe the 60s and 70s had a general negative impact on spiritual warfare.

Does that take away personal responsibility? No, but it’s a factor - especially for someone who came from negative life circumstances.

As the previous poster stated, the new policies implemented are working.