Vocations and Allegations of Sexual Abuse

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

Any chance you can point me to the official studies that give that number? Are those priests that have been proven to have abused or does it include those who have been accused?

I would also be interested in seeing the actual study. Are the results that 79% of the priests in Ireland were sexual abusers? How is “sexual abuse” defined? As you said, is this a list of those guilty or of those guilty and accused.

Also what is the time frame of the study? Are they counting cases from 20 years ago where the priest is dead against the number of priests we have today?

Another question is do they have an actual list of names for these priests or is it possible they have double or triple, or even more, counted? That is two people say they were abused by priests but the study does not get any names and counts this as two cases of abuse when in reality it was one priest who abused two individuals.

79% seems awfully high a number for abuse. Also, what is the margin of error of the study?

Until a link is provided to the actual study being put forward I am going to treat it as hear say and not give it any credence.

 

[dplusr]

Hi.

Under this circumstances, why should he consider a vocation to the priesthood?

Bye.

Because the vocation to the priesthood or the religious life is not about the individual but rather glorifying God. Should the priest/sister/brother put Jesus first each and everyday that should not be an issue. In the event you are falsely accused like Jesus was, consider it a privilege to experience a tiny fraction of what He felt and went through for you.

God Bless you as you discern. May the Holy Spirit enlighten you as you strive to follow Jesus.

 

[Yorkshireman]

Hi.

Let’s imagine a young catholic guy out there. This guy is considering a vocation to the priesthood.
He is reflecting on the risks. Why should he reasonably even continue to pursue a possible call from God in this direction if he has to expect the following situation one day:
He has served the Church faithfully for 21 years.
Then he is having a heavy dispute with some of his parishioners.*
Either:
Half a year later, one anonymous caller contacts the diocesan abuse prevention office and tells:
‘Priest has molested me 20 years ago at St. John Doe’s parish in Farfaraway, Nowhere County, WY.’
The priest gets suspended and will never again be able to serve in a parish. Caller gets new parish priest.
Or:
Half a year later, he gets indicted and sued by A Advocates for sexual abuse 20 years ago at St. Pamela, Dust Creek, Water Valley, HI, gets convicted and has to pay 1 M $ (because a) victims are not to be neglected b) victims don’t lie). Diocese get sued, too, and has to pay 100000 $. ‘Victim’ gets new mansion and another parish priest. A Adocates has expanded it’s fortune, too.
He is discouraged by these considerations. He hopes to be ready for physical martyrdom but does not expect to be able to sustain such happenings.*
Under this circumstances, why should he consider a vocation to the priesthood?

Bye.

Well for centuries the most the church did was to move a priest who raped children to another parish. And, as we know from accounts, time and time again the pedophile just took up where he left off.*

 

[Yorkshireman]

I checked the figures last night … via the main Reports done here. In fact the figure of priests who abused is just over 79 %.

Words like “molested” and “abused” are almost euphemisms. What we are usually talking about is the rape of children by priests.

 

[cara1]

I would also be interested in seeing the actual study. Are the results that 79% of the priests in Ireland were sexual abusers? How is “sexual abuse” defined? As you said, is this a list of those guilty or of those guilty and accused.

Also what is the time frame of the study? Are they counting cases from 20 years ago where the priest is dead against the number of priests we have today?

Another question is do they have an actual list of names for these priests or is it possible they have double or triple, or even more, counted? That is two people say they were abused by priests but the study does not get any names and counts this as two cases of abuse when in reality it was one priest who abused two individuals.

79% seems awfully high a number for abuse. Also, what is the margin of error of the study?

Until a link is provided to the actual study being put forward I am going to treat it as hear say and not give it any credence.

Byz, you are right to question the stats.
One thing is certain, tho’, is the devastation to the RC church in Ireland.

Ireland used to export priests. Now it imports them. Vocations are unbelievably down, worse than in the US or UK. Ditto ordinations. The number of masses is down, but it’s hard to know what drives this, mass attendance or priest availability.

The abuse was performed by religious, priests and brothers, much less commonly sisters, tho’ the practice of Magdalens suggests that even this represented institutionalized abuse. Physical, verbal, psychological and sexual abuse appears to have been very common among brothers in charge of large institutions of children, especially the Irish Christian Brothers. I am not sure if 70% of the brothers practiced abuse, but it appears to have been widespread.

 

[themonk86]

Well first and foremost priests and really all of us should never put ourselves at risk of being in a situation like that. When I say this I mean that I should never be alone with a woman, teenager, or child. This takes away most of all the risk involved as you always have witnesses around. If you are a priest and have to hear a confession then tell your secretary or someone else so that they know you are hearing a confession. The point is that a priest needs to take safeguards against these things.

Honestly for me hearing about the sex scandals made me want to be a priest even more. I want to but persecuted for the Kingdom of God and I don’t care if people spit on me, hate me, kill me what ever I can do for the Kingdom I shall do! The Church needs priests who really want to be priests, who are strong in God and don’t care about persecution, who are here to save souls.

That’s why we want to be priests and will work our butts off to do so.

God bless

Awesome reply! After hearing about the sex abuse scandal, I too have been taking the call to the priesthood, and to be honest, the priesthood has never seemed so appealing and beautiful to me as it is now.