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CTBcin
Guest
Thank you!
Seminaries and their screening processes
- Thread starter Tis_Bearself
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0Scarlett_nidiyilii
Guest
I like the idea of monitoring computer usage.
Do priest and seminarians have to get annual criminal background checks and FBI fingerprinting like teaches and health care workers?
Do priest and seminarians have to get annual criminal background checks and FBI fingerprinting like teaches and health care workers?
Tis_Bearself
Patron
This is already done as part of normal child safety precautions.
As for parents not picking kids up, when and if this happens there are protocols for how many adults must stay with the child and how many adults must be in the car driving them home if necessary. Again this is all part of the mandatory safety training.
This issue I’m talking about didn’t involve the priest being alone with minors at the parish. In this case and a previous case, the priest was doing everything online, catfishing under a phony female identity.
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NevermoreLenore
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This is a huge question with many working parts. I started to delineate all that goes into identifying potential offenders but went WAY over the word limit
. Below I am linking an excellent piece that covers everything.Psychopathology and Personality Traits of Paedophiles: Psychopathology and Personality Traits of Pedophiles
C
commenter
Guest
We will never weed out 100 percent, but the evidence suggests in the last few decades seminaries are doing a better job than a few decades earlier.
I don’t know if this is because seminary processes are that much better, or because potential candidates with “issues” are more wary, and think the processes are tighter.
The peak ordination year in terms of numbers of men who later got identified was 1971. Seminaries were in chaos, moral and doctrinal teaching was actively questioned, screening uncertain.
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NevermoreLenore
Guest
Typically Child Protective Services. If there is a reasonable certainty that abuse is occurring, the police may be the better option. It’s really a case by case decision, but generally, if there are suspicions but no concrete events, CPS is a good place to start.
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tuffsmurf
Guest
But then it has to be about a specific child, right? Not just general concerns about abusing children. If there is a risk that a child might be abused it makes all sense that it has to be reported!
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Cirdan_XII
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I think pre-screening alone doesn’t fix all problems, as manipulative people know how to act in interviews and manipulate others into a false sense of security. But during the time they are at the seminary there should be plenty of time to observe them. Maybe this is not presently being done sufficiently. Seminary teachers need to spend time with seminarians, even outside of the formal education activities, and also need to be taught how to detect telltale signs.
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NevermoreLenore
Guest
That’s the problem-- paedophiles are our neighbours, in our schools, coaching sports, in church youth programs (Catholic and evangelical/Protestant alike)… anywhere children are present, predators are lurking. They have razor sharp intuitive powers in selecting victims who are isolated, have terrible home lives, have uninvolved parents. The pick those who are most likely to respond to and indeed are desperate for positive attention and love. And then they begin grooming them, seducing them.
As far as peers and behaviour, they are expert chameleons. Many lead normal family lives, some are single, some abuse children opportunistically (ie family members who are readily available) and aren’t true paedophiles…there are so many types of offenders and a variety of motivations. The best thing to do, in my opinion, is to heavily educate parents and children. Teach children boundaries, what is safe touch/inappropriate touch, to listen to gut feelings (this is imperative: but he’s such a giving guy, he’s been my coach for years, everyone loves him, he’s married with children…but the kid feels internal alarm). Kids need to be empowered to say no, THEY NEED TO BE BELIEVED WHEN THEY TELL (it is horrifying to me when a child tells a parent about abuse and the parent either doesn’t believe or want to believe it. The betrayal of a parent allowing abuse to continue, blaming the child him/herself, and/or not protecting their child is often more traumatising than the abuse itself). Parents must be vigilant, especially when an adult (1 in 10 sexual offenders are women) takes special interest in their child, garners your trust as a parent (abusers groom the family, too), don’t allow your children to be alone with any other adults, spend time talking and listening to your child, know him/her well enough to notice a behavioural shift or signs of trauma, never putting your child in the position where an opportunistic can isolate the child.
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commenter
Guest
CPS only gets involved if there is a person over 18 alleged to have abused or neglected a child in their “supervision”. In other words, a parent, parent substitute, or a babysitter. The typical candidate for seminary is in none of these categories.
The police get involved if there is suspicion a crime has been committed. If a profile screening suggests a man is a pedophile, that isn’t a “crime”, if he has not admitted doing anything.
Of course the man should not be admitted to seminary!
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NevermoreLenore
Guest
The recidivism rate for paedophilia is astronomical. Sometimes a person, through chemical castration, a variety of cognitive and behavioural therapies along with tight social restrictions COMBINED can help minimise reoffending, but this rarely works and requires extreme dedication on the offender’s part and a strong social system of support. I believe in the Love and Hope of God, I believe in His Grace and Forgiveness, but paedophilia is an orientation, often hardwired the the brain, and without multifaceted and competent interventions most paedophiles reoffend.
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NevermoreLenore
Guest
"Reflecting the results of these and other studies, as well as clinical experience, the mainstream view among researchers and professionals who work in the area of child sexual abuse is that homosexual and bisexual men do not pose any special threat to children. For example, in one review of the scientific literature, noted authority Dr. A. Nicholas Groth wrote:
Full document with research: Facts About Homosexuality and Child Molestation
In a later literature review, Dr. Nathaniel McConaghy (1998) similarly cautioned against confusing homosexuality with pedophilia. He noted, “The man who offends against prepubertal or immediately postpubertal boys is typically not sexually interested in older men or in women” (p. 259)."
Full document with research: Facts About Homosexuality and Child Molestation
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0Scarlett_nidiyilii
Guest
A lot of pedophiles are former victims of sexual abuse.
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Mythicalbio
Guest
This is true but the vast majority of pedos aren’t abusers, afaik. Most people abuse without the attraction, for alternative reasons.
Tis_Bearself
Patron
Much of the discussion in this thread dealing with parents not leaving their kids alone with adults who take a interest in them is not addressing the situation of the catfisher who goes online, pretends to be a teenage girl, and is soliciting explicit photos from other teens. A minor might not even see this as an abusive situation because they assume the other person is a “girlfriend” of similar age.
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NevermoreLenore
Guest
This is true. Many offenders were abused themselves. However, most victims of childhood sexual abuse do not grow up and become offenders.
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0Scarlett_nidiyilii
Guest
That’s why I like your “monitor the computer” idea.
C
commenter
Guest
True, as to pedophilia.Mythicalbio:
The recidivism rate for paedophilia is astronomical. Sometimes a person, through chemical castration, a variety of cognitive and behavioural therapies along with tight social restrictions COMBINED can help minimise reoffending, but this rarely works and requires extreme dedication on the offender’s part and a strong social system of support. I believe in the Love and Hope of God, I believe in His Grace and Forgiveness, but paedophilia is an orientation, often hardwired the the brain, and without multifaceted and competent interventions most paedophiles reoffend.
A tiny percent of all priests who have sexuality abused are pedophiles, though some had multiple victims, very young.
The vast majority of priests who sexually abused were not pedophiles. Their victims were mostly teens.
Unlike pedophiles, this group often abused alcohol and drugs during the acts of molestation.
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NevermoreLenore
Guest
There is scant evidence of this because nearly all research is done with clinical and criminal samples.
I am not explaining myself well (in my defence, I have terrible insomnia and haven’t slept since Tuesday! Oi).
-People who molest children:
–some are actual paedophiles, estimated to be 25%-50%, depending on the study. These are preferential offenders. Their sexual orientation is paedophilia–they prefer sex with children (my stomach turns just writing that sentence). For true paedophiles, it is not known what percent actually act on those predilections, because as mentioned above, research samples are clinical and criminal and not a sample of the general population.
–some people who molest children do so because the situation presents itself; they are situational offenders. Examples might include antisocial individuals, sexually frustrated people–situational/opportunistic offenders. Most incest falls in this category.
There are so many variables and one must be aware of the motivation for the abuse as well as the circumstances.
I am not explaining myself well (in my defence, I have terrible insomnia and haven’t slept since Tuesday! Oi).
-People who molest children:
–some are actual paedophiles, estimated to be 25%-50%, depending on the study. These are preferential offenders. Their sexual orientation is paedophilia–they prefer sex with children (my stomach turns just writing that sentence). For true paedophiles, it is not known what percent actually act on those predilections, because as mentioned above, research samples are clinical and criminal and not a sample of the general population.
–some people who molest children do so because the situation presents itself; they are situational offenders. Examples might include antisocial individuals, sexually frustrated people–situational/opportunistic offenders. Most incest falls in this category.
There are so many variables and one must be aware of the motivation for the abuse as well as the circumstances.
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NevermoreLenore
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That is where education comes in. We began teaching our children about staying safe, boundaries, how to say no, that it’s okay to decline hugs or kisses, etc from a very young age–in age appropriate ways and building on the themes as they grew up. We discussed scenarios, walked through what they might be able to do in unsafe situations, established family rules/guidelines, and even have a made-up code word that my husband or I will provide anyone who we sent to pick the kids up, so that the kids know that they have permission to go with that person. No password, no go (we’ve only every had to use this once). None of this is done in ways to induce paranoia or anxiety, but we all need to be aware of our surroundings and learn how to assess situations for our safety. It’s one of a plethora of life skills that I, as a parent, need to teach and provide guidance for my children.
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