Posted on 04/21/2010 6:12:35 AM PDT by NYer
1. The crisis seems to be nearing its conclusion. The vast majority of allegations are from the 1960-1985 period, and only six cases of clerical sex abuse in 2009 have been reported.
2. There was no global cover-up. “Nobody, nowhere, no time, no way, no how knew the extent, depth, or horror of this scourge, nor how to adequately address it,” wrote New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan. No one had the knowledge necessary to orchestrate anything on a global scale. The crisis arises from individual cases, distant from each other in time and place, which have hit the press simultaneously.
3. Going public seemed like the wrong thing to do. As Father Dwight Longenecker has written, “What we now call ‘cover-up’ was often done in a different cultural context, when the problem was not fully understood and when all establishment organizations hushed scandals. They did so for what seemed good reasons at the time: protection of the victims and their families, opportunity for rehabilitation of the offender, the avoidance of scandal to others. It is unfair to judge events 30 years ago by today’s standards.”
4. Pope Benedict XVI is part of the solution, not the problem. He orchestrated profound changes in Vatican policy in 2001 and supported the U.S. bishops in their revamping of allegations handling in 2002.
5. “Nobody is doing more to address the tragedy of sexual abuse of minors than the Catholic Church.” So says Paul McHugh of Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. bishops’ conference reports that more than 5 million children have received safe-environment training and more than 2 million volunteers, employees and clerics have undergone background checks.
6. Seminarians now undergo increasingly rigorous scrutiny. That includes both intensive background screening and psychological testing, according to the U.S. bishops’ conference.
7. Child sexual abuse is “profoundly prevalent” throughout society, John Jay College of Criminal Justice researcher Margaret Leland Smith told Newsweek on April 8. “The sexual abuse of boys is common, underreported, underrecognized, and undertreated,” an American Medical Association report has concluded.
8. Children are far safer with priests than with the average person. According to Dr. Garth Rattray in The Gleaner (2002), “About 85% of abusers are family members, babysitters, neighbors or friends.”
9. Adult-adolescent sexual encounters (ephebophilia) account for 90% of all priest-minor interaction; encounters with children under 13 years old (pedophilia) account for only 10%. Of these, worldwide, approximately 60% are homosexual encounters and 30% are heterosexual. In the United States, 81% of victims are male, and 19% are female.
10. “Defrocking” isn’t always the solution. The press’ insistence that offender priests should have been laicized earlier overlooks two important facts: The normal first step, called “suspension,” which bishops are instructed to take in these cases, removes a priest temporarily or permanently from ministry so that he no longer will be a danger to children. And once a priest is laicized, the Church can no longer monitor his activities and restrict his access to children, so he is at large in society.
11. The Church is taking care of victims. In 2009, the U.S. bishops’ conference reported that $6.5 million was spent on therapy for the victims of clergy sexual abuse.
12. The Church is “the holy people of God,” and yet her holiness is imperfect. As the Catechism states, “The Church, clasping sinners to her bosom, at once holy and always in need of purification, follows constantly the path of penance and renewal. All members of the Church, including her ministers, must acknowledge that they are sinners. In everyone, the weeds of sin will still be mixed with the good wheat of the Gospel until the end of time. Hence the Church gathers sinners already caught up in Christ’s salvation but still on the way to holiness” (No. 827).
Note that these statements pertain to the US.
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Why only the US?
Are these not scandals in other countries, or is it okay to be a pedo in other countries?
Just wondering.
“Children are far safer with priests than with the average person.”
That seems so very obvious and I’m not even Catholic.
The US implemented a program to prevent future occurences of abuse. This is not the case elsewhere. I believe the pope has recommended to other countries that they review this program and adapt it to their respective situations.
Of course, none of this will make a difference to the loyal Marxist population. They are looking for any excuse (even a bad one) to blame the church and God for all the world’s problems and elevate human government to divinity.
This Pope wants to root out “the filth”. The NYT translates this to ridding it of Gay men who want to have sex with boys. There is a segment of the population that wants it to be legal to have sex with boys. They are called NAMBLA. And the Pope an I consider them to be “filth”.
Thanks for the info.
As usual, leftists have no real problem with child molestation when the deed is done by a left-leaning teacher, doctor, or politician. They may give lip service about how much they oppose pedophiles but it’s not a priority for them. Dismantling western society and seizing assets from the ‘rich’, those are priorities for them.
Nothing against genuine abuse but we do have 70% of the worlds lawyers. No other country has this amount. Where there is a lawyer you can be sure its for the love of money, most of the time.
This is a good article for non-Catholics to read.
**7. Child sexual abuse is “profoundly prevalent” throughout society, John Jay College of Criminal Justice researcher Margaret Leland Smith told Newsweek on April 8. “The sexual abuse of boys is common, underreported, underrecognized, and undertreated,” an American Medical Association report has concluded.
8. Children are far safer with priests than with the average person. According to Dr. Garth Rattray in The Gleaner (2002), “About 85% of abusers are family members, babysitters, neighbors or friends.”
9. Adult-adolescent sexual encounters (ephebophilia) account for 90% of all priest-minor interaction; encounters with children under 13 years old (pedophilia) account for only 10%. Of these, worldwide, approximately 60% are homosexual encounters and 30% are heterosexual. In the United States, 81% of victims are male, and 19% are female.&&
Good to see facts like this come out.
**They are looking for any excuse (even a bad one) to blame the church and God for all the world’s problems and elevate human government to divinity.**
Sadly — you speak the truth.
**This is a good article for non-Catholics to read.**
Yes, the answer isn’t with one single action here and another single action there.
It’s blanket action everywhere such as is being taken with new seminarians.
Pray that it will also spread to rout out the convents who do not conform to Catholic teaching. (You read it right!) There are still many leftists nuns around.
Big noise in Europe/ in Germany, anyway, about the Pope’s part in the ‘cover-up.’ I agree, these decisions were made in the 1950s in Germany, a different era, a lifetime ago, really. It is not right to judge backwards according to today’s standards.
Unless, of course, your agenda is really something else. (Could it be?)
One of the German papers said something like, “Will the Pope end up in jail?” There’s nothing the atheists would like better.
You wrote:
“Until the Vatican defrocks Cardinal Law the church will remain under suspicion.”
Until people get over their obsession with Cardinal Law they will not be able to see the reality of the situation as it ACTUALLY exists. Let people be suspicious. There’s no easy rational way to deal with irrational emotions. And suspicion is not the problem.
“He visited these pedophiles in prison to provide them comfort and never once visited any of the innocent victims of these monsters.”
Cardinal Law met with victims of sexual abuse. So says the AP from November 2002. And the AP was not a friendly source to Law.
“For this he was awarded a seat in the Vatican.”
Nope.
I suggest you get your facts straight before you post what appear to be emotionally driven comments.
As a member of the Archdiocese of Boston don't tell me to get over Cardinal Law. The Archdiocese is a shell of its former self. If these crimes were reported when they first happened the church wouldn't be in the present state that it is now. The secrecy and the actions after the fact of Cardinal Law made the situation much worse.
Take a tour of the closed parishes and schools in Boston along with the empty Mass and then tell me to get over Cardinal Law.
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