Ratio of abusive priests

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Does anyone happen to know what percentage of abuse priests is supposed to be?

I heard less than half of a percent. Incidentally, the 2000 US Census showed that 0.6% of Americans have no indoor plumbing. So if the estimate about abusive priests is true, it’s actually more likely for an American to have no indoor plumbing than it is for a priest to be involved with that stuff.

That’s a statistic I really like using to get people thinking. But I just wanna be sure that this estimate is correct. Does anyone else know, and could you provide some online sources for the stats?

Thanks so much. Feel free to use my indoor plumbing statistic if it comes in handy. If you need a source to back that up, this info is on the US Census website.
 
JesuXPIPassio said:
Does anyone happen to know what percentage of abuse priests is supposed to be?

I heard less than half of a percent. Incidentally, the 2000 US Census showed that 0.6% of Americans have no indoor plumbing. So if the estimate about abusive priests is true, it’s actually more likely for an American to have no indoor plumbing than it is for a priest to be involved with that stuff.

That’s a statistic I really like using to get people thinking. But I just wanna be sure that this estimate is correct. Does anyone else know, and could you provide some online sources for the stats?

Thanks so much. Feel free to use my indoor plumbing statistic if it comes in handy. If you need a source to back that up, this info is on the US Census website.
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I don’t know the number but read that it is much lower than child abusers in general society.
 
Thanks for your reply, Brother Rich.

Actually, I’m beginning to wonder if these estimates are really all that accurate. There has got to be some cases out there that weren’t reported.

There’s also the opposite side of the coin – there may be false reports against priests. I’m sure it’s happened. People could do it without any sweat of their foreheads. They think the Church has deep pockets and endless resources. And in America, movies and TV portray the hierarchy as evil, so they won’t feel they’re taking money away from Mother Teresa.
(Quite frankly people are stupid enough to believe whatever they see in fictional things – it’s just a mix of historical and creative factors that produce it; America has been very anti-Catholic historically, as any historian will tell you, while the media needs to create storylines, often going to corporations, politicians or the Church so they can have a big bad guy. That’s one of the things that Dan Brown has cashed in on. If you don’t believe me, list all the TV shows or movies that portray the hierarchy as evil. Then make a list of what portrayed the Church in a positive light.)

With the explosion of accusations, it gets all the harder to sift out the opportunists from the real victims.

So in either scenario, either the estimate of accusers would be artificially inflated or would appear to be artificially low. I personally think it’s more likely to be artificially inflated. But then again, I haven’t really followed all this stuff about those abusive priests.
Br.Rich_SFO said:
I don’t know the number but read that it is much lower than child abusers in general society.
Click to expand...
 
JesuXPIPassio said:
Thanks for your reply, Brother Rich.

Actually, I’m beginning to wonder if these estimates are really all that accurate. There has got to be some cases out there that weren’t reported.

There’s also the opposite side of the coin – there may be false reports against priests. I’m sure it’s happened. People could do it without any sweat of their foreheads. They think the Church has deep pockets and endless resources. And in America, movies and TV portray the hierarchy as evil, so they won’t feel they’re taking money away from Mother Teresa.(Quite frankly people are stupid enough to believe whatever they see in fictional things – it’s just a mix of historical and creative factors that produce it; America has been very anti-Catholic historically, as any historian will tell you, while the media needs to create storylines, often going to corporations, politicians or the Church so they can have a big bad guy. That’s one of the things that Dan Brown has cashed in on. If you don’t believe me, list all the TV shows or movies that portray the hierarchy as evil. Then make a list of what portrayed the Church in a positive light.)
With the explosion of accusations, it gets all the harder to sift out the opportunists from the real victims.

So in either scenario, either the estimate of accusers would be artificially inflated or would appear to be artificially low. I personally think it’s more likely to be artificially inflated. But then again, I haven’t really followed all this stuff about those abusive priests.
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There is a US Bishops document from the 1960’s that talks about child abuse. It shows that a very high percent of abuse if by family members, and much of that is never reported. So we are dealing with statistics which must be remembered are not a specific measure, but an indication of probability.
 
False claims have definitely been made. We had one in Tulsa. The priest was accused by a boy and his father. After an investigation was done it turned out that the father and son were trying to sue the Church to get money to fund the boy’s drug addiction. Of course the story that makes the big headlines is about the priest being accused. The final outcome is just quietly slipped in there. Fortunately I was looking for it so I managed to see it. Would not surprise me if a lot of the accusations were false. We live in a very sue-happy world unfortunately.
 
The ratio is irrelevent.

Children were hurt and left with a life time of scars.

Yes, there is false abuse allegations which is horrible, but think of the many that didn’t come forward, or who have chosen just to go and get help on their own without asking for anything other than peace.

Don’t think of this as just a US problem it is a world wide problem. The stats will never be accurate. Remember in many cases families saw the priest as part of their families.

Don’t worry so much about the stats worry about the people who have left the church and maybe God over what was done to them.

Even if only one child was hurt, we should all grieve for that child and do everything to comfort and bring peace to that child, not cast them aside which is happening.

scared
 
0.6% of people in the US do not have indoor plumbing:eek: …how can this be in this day and age :confused:
 
scared said:
The ratio is irrelevent.

Children were hurt and left with a life time of scars.
(…)
Don’t worry so much about the stats worry about the people who have left the church and maybe God over what was done to them.

Even if only one child was hurt, we should all grieve for that child and do everything to comfort and bring peace to that child, not cast them aside which is happening.

scared
Click to expand...
No one is arguing against you and the kids who were victims.

My issue is with the huge bias against the Church by people who stupidly think that every priest did that stuff. The ratio does matter in explaining the extreme rarity of priestly abuse, simply so people will stop making stupid general judgements. It leaves the over 99.5% of innocent priests under suspicion.

The Church is suffering an unfairly bad reputation. We’re already suffering a vocations shortage, and it’s fueled largely by the unfair depiction of the media. This is one of the reasons why the Da Vinci Code had its level of success.

I’m not whining about the past. I’m looking toward the future, the future of the Church. We must work now to build a better tomorrow. So to explain this whole ordeal to people, the ratio does matter.
  • For the Church of the future
  • For the innocent priests
  • For the kids who are kept from forming friendships with their priests because of unfounded suspicion
  • And most importantly for God
The ratio does matter

Seeing it that way, don’t you folks agree?
 
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