Why Remain in RCC?

[YADA]

catholicleague.org/sexual-abuse-in-social-context-clergy-and-other-professionals-2/

CATHOLIC 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]

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.

PROTESTANT CLERGY

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]

 

[idolatry]

Is the doubt of HabemusFrancis a holy work?

catholicleague.org/sexual-abuse-in-social-context-clergy-and-other-professionals-2/

CATHOLIC PRIESTS

PROTESTANT CLERGY

How does that answer my question?

 

[oldcelt]

To the OP I can only say that you must research and follow your conscience. Those are the only tools we really have as humans.
Good luck on your journey.

John

 

[YADA]

Is the doubt of HabemusFrancis a holy work?

How does that answer my question?

It questions the assertions - without data - of the OP

Not that I think their right, but you don’t hear about abuse in other churches, such as unitarians, Lutherans or Episcopalians on the same level. Where the millions of dollars in abuse payouts these churches have to pay for negligence, and the citywide grand jury reports on their failures?

Not that I think their right or that there is a correlation, but its funny that these churches that even allow gays and women as bishops don’t seem to have as big of a problem of sheltering pedophiles.

Truth is they have more of a problem - just less press coverage, no ability to come after an entity after the accused has passed on and ergo no deep pockets

Catholic clergy are less likely to offend …
Celibacy is not a factor [which is why teachers, coaches, protestant and other clergy. Also known to offend are people in every occupation including police and medical fields]

Much of the clergy abuse scandal labeled pedophilia [pre-pubescent children] was actually not pedophilia but pederasty [post - pubescent] and is related to homosexual tendencies - pedophilia makes for better headlines. Many cases were decades old - all of the accused and many witnesses deceased. One case was 57 years old - other then the 70 year old victim who had only recently realized she had been harmed at the age of 13 - was an elderly nun in her 90s.

The OP wants to leave the Church Jesus founded because of hyped bad news - press reports where accusations make front page - and retractions, corrections and the innocent are hidden deep if covered at all - where the Church - a unique organization - is an easy target with deep …

As a survivor of sexual abuse - I know first hand the damage that is done … but it is not systematic of the Catholic Church nor Catholic Priests … nor is that the greatest danger facing little ones …

Related family members, unrelated males living in the same house, close family friends, school teachers and coaches are all - statistically more likely to offend … it should not happen in the church nor anywhere … and every accusation should be brought to the attention of authorities -

 

[Ben_Quincy]

Thread going in circles.

Closed.