Vatican official says "keep abuse confidential"

[Soutane]

DENOMINATIONAL DIFFERENCES

The Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies estimates at least 224,000 churches across the country could be listed as Protestant.

Many are aligned into similarly governed denominations, including United Methodists, Lutherans, Episcopalians and Presbyterians. Others carry a national name, such as Baptists, but govern themselves at the local level without regard to stringent national policies. Countless others are independent, with no affiliation with any unit beyond their local church.

All those different organizational structures, which may or may not include a centralized hierarchy, make it impossible to accumulate all-inclusive data about sex abuse allegations. No single organization or executive has oversight over all Protestant denominations.

By contract, Catholic bishops commissioned the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University to track and publish an annual report on credible allegations of sexual misconduct among priests and deacons. For 2006, CARA showed 635 new and “credible allegations” were lodged against 394 priests or deacons from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31. That compares to 695 in 2005 and 898 in 2004.

During the past two years, no “credible allegations” have been filed against priests or deacons in the Syracuse Diocese, which includes Broome and Chenango counties. In the Rochester Diocese, which covers Tioga County, two allegations were lodged in 2006; four had been reported in 2005.

PROTECTING CHILDREN

Since child sex abuse by Catholic clergy began making headlines, both Catholics and Protestants have taken steps to protect children from predators.

The Syracuse and Rochester dioceses have victim-assistance coordinators who handle complaints of suspected abuse involving a minor and clergy, church employee or volunteer. Syracuse has a Safe Environment Program that requires all priests, paid employees, child-care providers, cheerleading coaches and other volunteers to complete a training session, as well as be screened and sign a code of conduct.

At its annual June meeting, Wyoming Conference established a Safe Sanctuary program that requires clergy and an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 local church volunteers who related to children to complete training by December 2008.

In reply to a reporter’s inquiry, United Methodist Bishop Susan W. Hassinger of the Wyoming Conference issued a statement saying allegations are taken “very seriously” and credible complaints would likely result in temporarily or permanently removing a pastor from a church assignment and possibly asking the clergy to surrender ministerial credentials. At that point, the accused would be identified through an announcement to the church, and the complaint would be inserted into the pastor’s personnel file and likely available for review by potential church or private-sector employers, Hassinger added.

In the Wesleyan Church, allegations would be investigated by the local church and reported to the district, Wager said. “The Wesleyan Church has zero tolerance for clergy abusing children, and if a pastor was determined to be guilty, the person would be immediately dismissed as a pastor and be forbidden from ever pastoring again,” he said.

Episcopalians in Central New York who work with children must participate in safe-church training and undergo background checks.

“We may ask why this happened in our church and in our community,” said Adams about the recent Putnam case. “I have faith that we will see the effect of God’s reconciling grace in and through one another.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

binghamtonpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070827/NEWS01/708270344/100

StopBaptistPredators

 

[Soutane]

SEXUAL ABUSE IN SOCIAL CONTEXT:
CATHOLIC CLERGY AND OTHER PROFESSIONALS

Special Report
by
Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights

February 2004

PREFACE

The purpose of this special report is to put the recent scandal in the Catholic Church in perspective. It does not seek to exculpate anyone who had anything to do with priestly sexual misconduct, but it does seek to challenge those who continue to treat this issue in isolation. Indeed, to discuss the incidence of sexual abuse committed by Roman Catholic priests without reference to the level of offense found among the clergy of other religions, or to that of other professionals, is grossly unfair.

Specifically, this report was prepared to guide the discussion that will inevitably follow two major studies that will be issued on February 27. One of them, a national study on the extent of sexual abuse of minors by priests since 1950, will be released by John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. The other is a study of the causes and consequences of the abuse crisis; it will be released by the National Review Board that was established by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Both studies were done at the request of the U.S. bishops.

It is the belief of the Catholic League that no meaningful conversation can take place on this issue without having some baseline data regarding the incidence of abuse that occurs outside the Catholic Church. That was the sole intent of this special report, and if it contributes to that end, then it will have been a success.

William A. Donohue, Ph.D.
President

OVERALL DATA

The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data Systems was developed by the Children’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Human Services in partnership with the States to collect annual statistics on child maltreatment from State child protective services agencies. For the year 2001, it was found that approximately 903,000 children were victims of child maltreatment, 10 percent of whom (or 90,000) were sexually abused. It also found that 59 percent of the perpetrators of child abuse or neglect were women and 41 percent were men.*

In 2001, clinical child psychologist Wade F. Horn reported on the work of researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health. The researchers found that nearly 20 percent of low-income women, recruited through family planning, obstetrical or gynecological clinics, had experienced child sexual abuse.

Horn summarized the researchers’ findings on poor women as follows: “Family friends and acquaintances compose the largest group of perpetrators (28 percent), followed by such relatives as uncles and cousins (18 percent), stepfathers (12 percent), male siblings (10 percent), biological fathers (10 percent), boyfriends of the child’s mother (9 percent), grandfathers and stepgrandfathers (7 percent), and strangers (4 percent).” Horn was struck by the fact that 10 percent were biological fathers and only 4 percent were strangers. “Which means,” he said, “86 percent of the perpetrators were known to the family, but were someone other than the child’s father.”[ii]

According to Dr. Garth A. Rattray, about the same incidence of abuse occurs among all the socio-economic classes. For example, he reports that “about 85 percent of the offenders [of child sexual abuse] are family members, babysitters, neighbors, family friends or relatives. About one in six child molesters are other children.” Unlike the first study cited, Rattray reports that most of the offenders are male.[iii]

It is obvious that children are much more likely to be sexually abused by family members and friends than by anyone else. This suggests that if preventative measures are to work, they must begin in the home, and not someplace else.

PRIESTS

According to a survey by the Washington Post, over the last four decades, less than 1.5 percent of the estimated 60,000 or more men who have served in the Catholic clergy have been accused of child sexual abuse.[iv] According to a survey by the New York Times, 1.8 percent of all priests ordained from 1950 to 2001 have been accused of child sexual abuse.[v] Thomas Kane, author of Priests are People Too, estimates that between 1 and 1.5 percent of priests have had charges made against them.[vi] Of contemporary priests, the Associated Press found that approximately two-thirds of 1 percent of priests have charges pending against them.[vii]

Almost all the priests who abuse children are homosexuals. Dr. Thomas Plante, a psychologist at Santa Clara University, found that “80 to 90% of all priests who in fact abuse minors have sexually engaged with adolescent boys, not prepubescent children. Thus, the teenager is more at risk than the young altar boy or girls of any age.”[viii]

The situation in Boston, the epicenter of the scandal, is even worse. According to the Boston Globe, “Of the clergy sex abuse cases referred to prosecutors in Eastern Massachusetts, more than 90 percent involve male victims. And the most prominent Boston lawyers for alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse have said that about 95 percent of their clients are male.”[ix]

In a database analysis of reports on more than 1,200 alleged victims of priests identified by USA Today, 85 percent were males.[x] In another study by USA Today, it was determined that of the 234 priests who have been accused of sexual abuse of a minor while serving in the nation’s 10 largest dioceses and archdioceses, 91 percent of their victims were males.[xi]*

 

[silentstar]

When i was a kid my Parish priest had a man confess murder to him.the priest asked him after confession to come to the office where they discussed the crime extra-sacramentally,got him to admit again what he had done and the details and immediately phoned the cops.The priest told us this without telling us the person’s name.

That sounds pretty unnerving for the priest hearing the confession. I have to say I don’t envy priests in that position, who may hear confessions of serious crimes at any time. It sounds like that priest handled the situation really well.

 

[Soutane]

Much has been made of a survey done by the Dallas Morning News which claims that two-thirds of the nation’s bishops have allowed priests accused of sexual abuse to continue working. But the problem with the survey is its definition of abuse—it includes everything from “ignoring warnings about suspicious behavior” to “criminal convictions.”[xii] Thus, the survey is of limited utility.

MINISTERS

The data on the Protestant clergy tend to focus on sexual abuse in general, not on sexual abuse of children. Thus, strict comparisons cannot always be made. But there are some comparative data available on the subject of child sexual molestation, and what has been reported is quite revealing.

In a 1984 survey, 38.6 percent of ministers reported sexual contact with a church member, and 76 percent knew of another minister who had had sexual intercourse with a parishioner.[xiii] In the same year, a Fuller Seminary survey of 1,200 ministers found that 20 percent of theologically “conservative” pastors admitted to some sexual contact outside of marriage with a church member. The figure jumped to over 40 percent for “moderates”; 50 percent of “liberal” pastors confessed to similar behavior.[xiv]

In 1990, in a study by the Park Ridge Center for the Study of Health, Faith and Ethics in Chicago, it was learned that 10 percent of ministers said they had had an affair with a parishioner and about 25 percent admitted some sexual contact with a parishioner.[xv] Two years later, a survey by Leadership magazine found that 37 percent of ministers confessed to having been involved in “inappropriate sexual behavior” with a parishioner.[xvi]

In a 1993 survey by the Journal of Pastoral Care, 14 percent of Southern Baptist ministers said they had engaged in “inappropriate sexual behavior,” and 70 percent said they knew a minister who had had such contact with a parishioner.[xvii] Joe E. Trull is co-author of the 1993 book, Ministerial Ethics, and he found that “from 30 to 35 percent of ministers of all denominations admit to having sexual relationships—from inappropriate touching to sexual intercourse—outside of marriage.”[xviii]

According to a 2000 report to the Baptist General Convention in Texas, “The incidence of sexual abuse by clergy has reached ‘horrific proportions.’” It noted that in studies done in the 1980s, 12 percent of ministers had “engaged in sexual intercourse with members” and nearly 40 percent had “acknowledged sexually inappropriate behavior.” The report concluded that “The disturbing aspect of all research is that the rate of incidence for clergy exceeds the client-professional rate for physicians and psychologists.”[xix] Regarding pornography and sexual addiction, a national survey disclosed that about 20 percent of all ministers are involved in the behavior.[xx]

In the spring of 2002, when the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church was receiving unprecedented attention, the Christian Science Monitor reported on the results of national surveys by Christian Ministry Resources. The conclusion: “Despite headlines focusing on the priest pedophile problem in the Roman Catholic Church, most American churches being hit with child sexual-abuse allegations are Protestant, and most of the alleged abusers are not clergy or staff, but church volunteers.”[xxi]

Finally, in the authoritative work by Penn State professor Philip Jenkins, Pedophiles and Priests, it was determined that between .2 and 1.7 percent of priests are pedophiles. The figure among the Protestant clergy ranges between 2 and 3 percent.[xxii]

OTHER CLERGY AND PROFESSIONALS

Rabbi Arthur Gross Schaefer is a professor of law and ethics at Loyola Marymount University. It is his belief that sexual abuse among rabbis approximates that found among the Protestant clergy. According to one study, 73 percent of women rabbis report instances of sexual harassment. “Sadly,” Rabbi Schaefer concludes, “our community’s reactions up to this point have been often based on keeping things quiet in an attempt to do ‘damage control.’ Fear of lawsuits and bad publicity have dictated an atmosphere of hushed voices and outrage against those who dare to break ranks by speaking out.”[xxiii]

Rabbi Joel Meyers, executive vice president of the Conservative Rabbinical Assembly, reports that 30 percent of rabbis who changed positions in 2000 did so involuntarily, and that sexual abuse was a factor in many instances.[xxiv] The Awareness Center devotes an entire website to “Clergy Abuse: Rabbis, Cantors & Other Trusted Officials.” It is a detailed and frank look at the problem of sexual abuse by rabbis.[xxv]

The problem of sexual abuse in the Jehovah’s Witnesses is evident among church elders but most of the abuse comes from congregation members. “The victims who have stepped forward are mostly girls and young women,” writes Laurie Goodstein in the New York Times, “and many accusations involve incest.” There is a victims support group available, “silentlambs,” that has collected more than 5,000 Witnesses contending that the church mishandled child sexual abuse.[xxvi]

According to one study, .2 percent of athletic coaches nationwide have a criminal record of some sort of sexual offense. This translates to about 6,000 coaches in the U.S. who have been tried and found guilty of sexual offense against children.[xxvii] It is not known how many more offenders have escaped the reach of law enforcement.

 

[Soutane]

Between 3 and 12 percent of psychologists have had sexual contact with their clients. While today virtually every state considers sexual contact with a client as worthy of revoking a psychologist’s license, as recently as 1987 only 31 percent of state licensing boards considered sexual relations between a psychologist and his or her patient grounds for license revocation.[xxviii] What makes this statistic so interesting is that many bishops in the 1980s took the advice of psychologists in handling molesting priests.

TEACHERS

The American Medical Association found in 1986 that one in four girls, and one in eight boys, are sexually abused in or out of school before the age of 18. Two years later, a study included in The Handbook on Sexual Abuse of Children, reported that one in four girls, and one in six boys, is sexually abused by age 18.[xxix] It was reported in 1991 that 17.7 percent of males who graduated from high school, and 82.2 percent of females, reported sexual harassment by faculty or staff during their years in school. Fully 13.5 percent said they had sexual intercourse with their teacher.[xxx]

In New York City alone, at least one child is sexually abused by a school employee every day. One study concluded that more than 60 percent of employees accused of sexual abuse in the New York City schools were transferred to desk jobs at district offices located inside the schools. Most of these teachers are tenured and 40 percent of those transferred are repeat offenders. They call it “passing the garbage” in the schools. One reason why this exists is due to efforts by the United Federation of Teachers to protect teachers at the expense of children.[xxxi] Another is the fact that teachers accused of sexual misconduct cannot be fired under New York State law.[xxxii]

One of the nation’s foremost authorities on the subject of the sexual abuse of minors in public schools is Hofstra University professor Charol Shakeshaft. In 1994, Shakeshaft and Audrey Cohan did a study of 225 cases of educator sexual abuse in New York City. Their findings are astounding.

All of the accused admitted sexual abuse of a student, but none of the abusers was reported to the authorities, and only 1 percent lost their license to teach. Only 35 percent suffered negative consequences of any kind, and 39 percent chose to leave their school district, most with positive recommendations. Some were even given an early retirement package.[xxxiii]

Moving molesting teachers from school district to school district is a common phenomenon. And in only 1 percent of the cases do superintendents notify the new school district.[xxxiv] According to Diana Jean Schemo, the term “passing the trash” is the preferred jargon among educators.[xxxv]

Shakeshaft has also determined that 15 percent of all students have experienced some kind of sexual misconduct by a teacher between kindergarten and 12th grade; the behaviors range from touching to forced penetration.[xxxvi] She and Cohan also found that up to 5 percent of teachers sexually abuse children.[xxxvii] Shakeshaft will soon be ready to release the findings of a vast study undertaken for the Planning and Evaluation Service Office of the Undersecretary, U.S. Department of Education, titled, “Educator Sexual Misconduct with Students: A Synthesis of Existing Literature on Prevalence in Connection with the Design of a National Analysis.”[xxxviii]

CONCLUSION

The issue of child sexual molestation is deserving of serious scholarship. Too often, assumptions have been made that this problem is worse in the Catholic clergy than in other sectors of society. This report does not support this conclusion. Indeed, it shows that family members are the most likely to sexually molest a child. It also shows that the incidence of the sexual abuse of a minor is slightly higher among the Protestant clergy than among the Catholic clergy, and that it is significantly higher among public school teachers than among ministers and priests.

In a survey for the Wall Street Journal-NBC News, it was found that 64 percent of the public thought that Catholic priests frequently abused children.[xxxix] This is outrageously unfair, but it is not surprising given the media fixation on this issue. While it would be unfair to blame the media for the scandal in the Catholic Church, the constant drumbeat of negative reporting surely accounts for these remarkably skewed results.[xl]

 

[Soutane]

Without comparative data, little can be learned. Numbers are not without meaning, but they don’t count for much unless a baseline has been established. Moreover, sexual misconduct is difficult to measure given its mostly private nature. While crime statistics are helpful, we know from social science research that most crimes go unreported. This is especially true of sexual abuse crimes. At the end of the day, estimates culled from survey research are the best we can do.

By putting the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church in perspective, it is hoped that this report will make for a more fair and educated public response.

---

• “Child Maltreatment 2001: Summary of Key Findings,” National Adoption Information Clearinghouse, www.calib.com/nccanch, April 2003.

[ii] Wade F. Horn, “Common-sense article about abuse,” Washington Times, February 6, 2001, p. E1.

[iii] Dr. Garth A. Rattray, “Child Month and Paedophilia,” The Gleaner, May 14, 2002.

[iv]Alan Cooperman, “Hundreds of Priests Removed Since ‘60s; Survey Shows Scope Wider Than Disclosed,” Washington Post, June 9, 2002, p. A1.

[v]Laurie Goodstein, “Decades of Damage; Trail of Pain in Church Crisis Leads to Nearly Every Diocese,” New York Times, January 12, 2003, Section 1, p. 1.

[vi] Interviewed by Bill O’Reilly, Transcript of “The O’Reilly Factor,” May 3, 2002.

[vii] Bob von Sternberg, “Insurance Falls Short in Church Abuse Cases; Catholic Dioceses are Forced to Find other Sources to Pay Settlements,” Star Tribune, July 27, 2002, p. 1A.

[viii] Thomas Plante, “A Perspective on Clergy Sexual Abuse,” www.psywww.com/psyrelig/plante.html.

[ix] Thomas Farragher and Matt Carroll, “Church Board Dismissed Accusations by Females,” Boston.com, February 2, 2003.

[x] Janet Kornblum, “85% of Church Abuse Victims are Male, Research Finds,” USA Today, July 24, 2002, pp. 6-7D.

[xi] “The Accusers and the Accused,” USA Today, November*

 

[Soutane]

PREACHER PREDATORS: INVESTIGATING CHILD SEX ABUSE IN THE PROTESTANT CHURCH

Child sex abuse by Catholic priests has been headline news in recent years, but is the same abuse happening within Protestant churches? In a six-month investigation, ABC News’ ‘20/20’ found preacher predators in every corner of the country, including several affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) – the largest Protestant denomination.

ABC New’s Jim Avila’s reporting finds that the SBC, an organization of 43,000 independent churches and 16.3 million members, has an overall structure that makes it difficult to police preacher predators. One example includes a profile of an SBC pastor who abused kids in Kentucky and then moved on to do the same to eight boys in Missouri, before he was finally sent to prison. In an interview with Avila, the SBC president concedes that there is a problem with tracking predators.

‘20/20’ lists numerous SBC preachers who have been convicted or charged with child sex abuse, including pastors still identified on the SBC’s own website or ordained ministers. Jim interviews a preacher who admits that, in his jobs as Southern Baptist preacher and teacher in East Texas, he molested more than 40 boys. For the first time, Ken Ward speaks publicly about how he manipulated families and churches as he targeted and molested children in his care, and how the church is actually a magnet for predators. ‘I wanted them to love me and that was part of the strategy,’ says Ward. He also gives insight to parents about how to spot a predator.

 

[Rence]

From an article cited:
One way for attorneys and victims’ groups to open the Church to more suits is to ask judges to demand the Church turn over personnel files. Digging through these confidential documents, they may discover or claim to discover new incidents of crimes or cover-up. However, it is not only through the courts that they can ensure the Church is more vulnerable to lawsuits; changes in legislation can make it possible to file suit for abuses that allegedly happened many years ago. And a whole slew of folks are working to see that such changes in fact come about…

I would support a law imposing the above. I think it would be a GREAT idea and would help put an immediate stop to the abuse. The molesters have been protected by the veil of secrecy for way too long. No one who wants to commit a crime will stop if his/her actions are being protected. If one knows their deeds will be revealed and they will be punished for it, they will think twice about doing it.

 

[Rence]

I would support a law imposing the above. I think it would be a GREAT idea and would help put an immediate stop to the abuse. The molesters have been protected by the veil of secrecy for way too long. No one who wants to commit a crime will stop if his/her actions are being protected. If one knows their deeds will be revealed and they will be punished for it, they will think twice about doing it.

If a priest is brought up on charges of molestation, and his file isn’t released to the courts, I’d have his sorry butt in jail without bond until the file is on the desk of both attorneys.

 

[Soutane]

Sunday, May 18, 2008Sex scandals in free-church pews
Posted by tmatt

There’s a new sex scandal unfolding in the world of evangelicals, a small story that points toward an imporant and very complex larger story.

Here’s the top of a short, newsy report in the Dallas Morning News:

PLANO — A Prestonwood Baptist Church minister arrested for soliciting a minor online has resigned from the church, Pastor Jack Graham told his congregation Saturday evening.

Dr. Graham addressed the crowd at the start of the church’s regular worship service. He said the church had accepted Joe Barron’s resignation, which took effect immediately. …

Police arrested Mr. Barron, 52, Thursday morning after he drove from Plano to Bryan to meet with what he thought was a 13-year-old girl he had met online, authorities say. The girl turned out to be a Bryan police officer working in an ongoing Internet sex sting.

There’s a small clue as to the scope of the story in those basic facts. The church’s “regular worship service” is on Saturday night? Actually, that would be “a” regular worship service, since the congregation is so large that people worship in waves, in services at two locations. It is also important to note that Barron was “a” minister, as opposed to being “the” minister, or senior pastor. Here is one paragraph of crucial info:

Mr. Barron was one of about 40 ministers at the 26,000-member Plano megachurch. He’d worked there for about 18 months, ministering to married adults, ages 42 to 58.

Yes, 40 ministers in one congregation.

This scandal should blow over very quickly, since the minister in question is not a powerful figure whose name is easy to link to GOP politics. Of course, if there is some kind of link, then all bets are off.

But there is an important story here, one linked to clergy sexual abuse — in Protestantism. To be specific, there are important reasons that it has been hard for activists to gain much traction trying to bring more attention — justifiable attention — to the subject of clergy sexual abuse among Southern Baptists and other free-church denominations.

The problem is real. And there are also very real legal problems facing those who want to clean the situation up, complications that are different from those facing, for example, Roman Catholic reformers. I have been interested in this topic for some time and here is a piece of a Scripps Howard column from five years ago:

“The incidence of sexual abuse by clergy has reached ‘horrific proportions,’ ” according to a 2000 report to the Baptist General Convention of Texas. It noted that studies conducted in the 1980s found that about 12 percent of ministers had “engaged in sexual intercourse with members” and nearly 40 percent had “acknowledged sexually inappropriate behavior.”

Sadly, this report added: “Recent surveys by religious journals and research institutes support these figures. The disturbing aspect of all research is that the rate of incidence for clergy exceeds the client-professional rate for both physicians and psychologists.”

So why is it hard for reformers to attack this problem? Why can’t Southern Baptist authorities crack down?

Ah, there’s the problem. In a free-church movement — one with no bishops, no authoritative central structure — the local congregations are pretty much on their own when it comes to this kind of work. Let’s go back to that Scripps piece:

Where does the buck stop, when sexual abuse hits Protestant pulpits? The Southern Baptist resolution calls on local churches to discipline sex offenders. Yet the most powerful person in modern Protestantism is a successful pastor whose preaching and people skills keep packing people into the pews. Can his own church board truly investigate and discipline that pastor?

Once that question is asked, others quickly follow. If the board of deacons in a Southern Baptist congregation faced an in-house sex scandal and wanted help, where could it turn? It could seek help from its competition, the circle of churches in its local association. Or it could appeal to its state convention. In some states, “conservative” and “moderate” churches would need to choose between competing conventions linked to these rival Baptist camps. Or could a church appeal for help from the boards and agencies of the 16-million-member national convention?

Everything depends on that local church and everything is voluntary. One more question: What Baptist leader would dare face the liability issues involved in guiding such a process? … Some state conventions might have the staff and know how to create a data bank of information of clergy sexual abuse. But for Baptist leaders to do so, they would risk clashing with their tradition’s total commitment to the freedom and the autonomy of the local congregation.

Do you see the point? For lawyers, the goal is to find a structure to sue, yet in the free-church way of doing things, there often is no structure larger than the local church or there are real questions about the authority and clout of the larger regional or national structures.

Everything is voluntary. There is no there, there. Things get even more complicated in the rapidly growing world of totally independent megachurches, both evangelical, Pentecostal and Fundamentalist.

There are activists working on all of this, including a Southern Baptist branch of the SNAP network that has received so much coverage in the Catholic crisis. Also, Southern Baptist journalists have also taken on the topic and you can pay attention to the ongoing coverage of this issue at the EthicsDaily.com site. Check it out.

This is an important — although frustrating — story worthy of more coverage. Let us see if you see stories worth passing along.

Written by: tmatt on May 18, 2008.

Posted at 10:14 pm | Print | Permalink | Trackback | Comments (26)

26

 

[tweetymom]

After all of that no one has to put words in your mouth you have plenty on your own.

 

[asmrbd]

Well if it is “reconciliation” then that means to repent and turn away from. If a crime has been comitted, they must lose their position and turn themselves in. Else, there will be more victims. Is 55:7 and Jonah on Ninevah, people must turn from sin. Until the CC treats this like the world does, it will be a problem. Anything less is a coverup. Then it goes back to righteouness vs. the bottom line. A problem in the CC centuries ago.

  Do not settle on "we are human and we fail."  Settle on getting in charge of your life and get sin out of your life.  God demands such.  Until we are his servant, 24/7 and in his will, we will fall.  

   The NT says if sin befalls a brother, to adress the issue up front, and kick them out if they refuse to repent.  Preachers should be allowed to marry. I didn't say Priests, because the one sacrifice is finished, we need no more. Peter was married. Plus the NT says the Bishop and elder have one wife.  That may solve some problems.  Let them marry.  Forget the traditions of men.

 

[silentstar]

Continued…
CONCLUSION
The issue of child sexual molestation is deserving of serious scholarship. Too often, assumptions have been made that this problem is worse in the Catholic clergy than in other sectors of society. This report does not support this conclusion. Indeed, it shows that family members are the most likely to sexually molest a child. It also shows that the incidence of the sexual abuse of a minor is slightly higher among the Protestant clergy than among the Catholic clergy, and that it is significantly higher among public school teachers than among ministers and priests.

I truly do not want to hijack this thread. But I do want to point out that in the late 1980s and early to mid 1990s, when few people were talking about priest abuse, incest got TREMENDOUS publicity. Therapists wrote books about it; there were Survivors of Incest anonymous groups all over the place; there were tons of first-person accounts in newspapers and books, and there was a sense that the vast majority of people in America for example had not realized that parents especially fathers can sexually abuse children. And all of us, whether survivors of incest or not, needed education about this b/c it is an important social problem.

At that time I remember virtually nothing being said about abuse by priests. The major guidebook for sexual abuse recovery for women, The Courage to Heal, came out in 1988. I’m not sure if that original version had even one story of abuse by a priest. Although it focused on women, I have seen statistics that say 19% of priest abuse victims are female.

Then the False Memory Syndrome Foundation came along and they put a great deal of money, time, and effort into getting the view out there that many hard-working, loving parents were being falsely accused by angry children in their later years. They got a lot of sympathetic coverage but they really didn’t last all that long in terms of being high-profile. They are still around though and some of their members are psychologists or psychiatrists who research memory. Apparently some of this research is really good and other research is awful.

I’m just saying, a lot of really good people, with good motives, tried to raise awareness about incest and some of them suffered personally with angry feedback from abusers when they tried to come forward, or even lawsuits against therapists who treated incest survivors. There are a fair number of people who think that another wave of awareness about incest and recovery would be good. But unfortunately, a lot of experts got burned by the false memory group and it’s hard for them to put themselves out there the way they used to.

 

[Soutane]

Not so much fun when it’s YOUR ox getting gored,eh?Priestly misconduct is inexcusable,even one case is one too many but this is a social disgrace affecting all sectors of society,especially protestant churches,so why sole media attention on the Catholic Church?Two possible reasons1)Deep down the media and others recognize that Catholicism is the true Church that Christ Divinely instituted and they understandably hold us to a higher standard(true but not bloody likely-is bloody a swear word?If it is please remove it)or 2)they despise us for presenting Christ’s Truth to the World which makes them uncomfortable and angry(much more likely).Why go after minnows(Protestants)when there’s the Big Fish around(Catholics).

If you folks are fair you’ll read every word I’ve admittedly cut and pasted.

 

[tweetymom]

Not so much fun when it’s YOUR ox getting gored,eh?Priestly misconduct is inexcusable,even one case is one too many but this is a social disgrace affecting all sectors of society,especially protestant churches,so why sole media attention on the Catholic Church?Two possible reasons1)Deep down the media and others recognize that Catholicism is the true Church that Christ Divinely instituted and they understandably hold us to a higher standard(true but not bloody likely-is bloody a swear word?If it is please remove it)or 2)they despise us for presenting Christ’s Truth to the World which makes them uncomfortable and angry(much more likely).Why go after minnows(Protestants)when there’s the Big Fish around(Catholics).

If you folks are fair you’ll read every word I’ve admittedly cut and pasted.

Like I have said there is plenty of abuse out there and i read about it almost daily in the paper. If there was no story there would be nothing to report on. All society, churches, etc. etc are guilty of abuse and cover ups. If it wasn’t hidden there would be no story. Be upfront and face the music. I never said it was only the CC. I personally know how evil and distorted sexual abuse and the cover is, been there done that.

 

[pnewton]

Soutane has made following this thread darn near impossible by all the mega-posting, but back to the topic,

I completely agree with you. I think it’s unspeakable that some here claim that rape victims who take plan B in the ER after their rape are not entitled to absolution because they knew what to do to protect themselves and knew that if the horrific happened to them that they would go to the ER for such services. …

Everyone is entitled to absolution. The well of mercy knows no bounds. For those who can not every see forgiving child abusers, perhaps it would help that Jesus bound our own ability to be forgiven by how we are willing to forgive others. If a child abuse sin (or murder) is held as an exception to reconciliation, then other serious sinners who turn to God in mercy may equally need to seek mercy and be deterred by the wagging tongue of the priest. The goal is nothing less than Heaven. As horrible as child abuse is, it is not worse than Hell. The Church maintains perspective between the suffering in this life and the suffering for all eternity that is often lost in emotionally charged topics.

 

[Soutane]

That sounds pretty unnerving for the priest hearing the confession. I have to say I don’t envy priests in that position, who may hear confessions of serious crimes at any time. It sounds like that priest handled the situation really well.

Priests hear confessions that would make your hair stand on end.Most priests who hear a confession that alludes to murder,rape etc will either withold absolution until the perpetrator turns himself or herself in or casually invite the person to the church office(at great risk to themselves)suspend the Sacrament with the person’s permission,garner all details and inform the aythorities.I have two priest friends one of whom is retired and both have told me similar stories albeit not concerning murder but other heinous offences.But ask yourself this question,if only 3-5% of Catholics attend confession how many are murderers and rapists?Not very many.The incident of murder that I referred to took place in the late Fifties when EVERYONE went to confession.Now just the devout remnant do.

 

[asmrbd]

Not so much fun when it’s YOUR ox getting gored,eh?Priestly misconduct is inexcusable,even one case is one too many but this is a social disgrace affecting all sectors of society,especially protestant churches,so why sole media attention on the Catholic Church?Two possible reasons1)Deep down the media and others recognize that Catholicism is the true Church that Christ Divinely instituted and they understandably hold us to a higher standard(true but not bloody likely-is bloody a swear word?If it is please remove it)or 2)they despise us for presenting Christ’s Truth to the World which makes them uncomfortable and angry(much more likely).Why go after minnows(Protestants)when there’s the Big Fish around(Catholics).

If you folks are fair you’ll read every word I’ve admittedly cut and pasted.

True Soutane, they’ll come after the CC just as they do the corporations. But it is the global scale, long time period, and institutional hiding that looks so bad. ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God, for there is none righteous, no not ONE. The CC just has to show concern for the children, victims and families while slamming the guilty ones. Sin won’t go away, but it can be fought.

 

[Soutane]

“Soutane has made following this thread darn near impossible by all the mega-posting, but back to the topic,”

Not at all i mega-posted because I am sick and tired of Molestation being portrayed in the media and YES in these forums as a Catholic Disease when in fact it is a Societal one.I quoted all those respectable sources as evidence of my theses.Read them or notPNeuton,I could care less.

 

[Soutane]

True Soutane, they’ll come after the CC just as they do the corporations. But it is the global scale, long time period, and institutional hiding that looks so bad. ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God, for there is none righteous, no not ONE. The CC just has to show concern for the children, victims and families while slamming the guilty ones. Sin won’t go away, but it can be fought.

What in God’s name do you think the Church is doing NOW?