US Catholic Church seeks to find root of priest sex abuse

AFP ^ | 11/16/06

[presidio9]

The US Roman Catholic Church has asked a criminology school to delve into the darkest pages of its history by probing the causes of a priest sex abuse scandal.

At a meeting due to end Thursday in the eastern city of Baltimore, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops voted to disburse 335,000 dollars to fund the first three phases of a study by New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

"It will be a groundbreaking study, never done before in the US, nor in the world," Bishop Gregory Aymond, who chairs the Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People, told AFP.

"We don't know what would come out of it, but we are going to tell the truth," said Aymond, of Austin, Texas.

In 2002, the John Jay College of Criminal Justice had made a list of complaints and pedophilia cases in the US Catholic Church since 1985, when one of the first scandals came to light with the case of a Louisiana priest.

The university will now look into the "social and historical context" of sex abuse to see if such cases are more frequent in the Church than in the rest of society, notably in schools and youth clubs, Aymond said.

The Church wants to "look at what is unique" in the priest sex abuse crisis, he said.

The first part of the study would be completed in 2008 and made public, although the names of suspected priests would be omitted.

In the second part, the university will evaluate the Church leadership's response to sex abuse cases.

"We want to see where we failed and made some mistakes, and learn from those who handled it well," Aymond said.

The study will also paint a psychological profile of pedophiliac priests by reviewing cases in treatment centers.

The review will aim to show "to what extent is a priest sexual abuser profile the same as the psychological profile of the non-priests who are sex offenders," Aymond said.

The university will also interview abuse victims and examine education at seminaries over the decades.

The majority of priests accused of sex abuse were trained in the 1960s and 1970s in seminaries where psychological tests and sexuality education have since been introduced.

A final phase of the study will make proposals on how to prevent sex abuse and help victims.

"Our goal is to ascertain the causes of the clergy sexual abuse crisis and if we need to change any method we have now," said Teresa Kettlekamp, the executive director of the bishops conference's Office of Child and Youth Protection, which was created in 2002, in the wake of the sex abuse scandal.

But the study would also be useful to schools and youth groups, Church officials said.

"The pathology of abusing children isn't unique; it's a societal problem," Kettlekamp said.

"We are hoping it will be a big, big help to the society in general," she said.

[RoadTest]

The root is unscriptural celibacy. It's so obvious.

[altura]

Yeah, I read Goodbye, Good Men. Very interesting.

However, the author totally fails to address the root cause of so many homosexual priests.

It's a good place to go if you don't want to get married because you're gay. Most normal men want a wife and family. Allowing married priests would exponentially increase the base of men wanting to be priests and they could be more selective.

They wouldn't have to resort to gays. But they've resorted to so many, it is almost impossible to eradicate them now because they have a band of brothers within the church and church hierarchy.

And there is really no Biblical authority for banning married priests.

They abandoned Latin mass and no mean on Friday.

[TChris]

Does your wife wear a veil as called to throughout same chapter?

I didn't intend to start a doctrinal debate, but to attempt to answer the question posed in the article. The question of women wearing veils doesn't have anything to do with sexual misconduct of priests. I believe the celibacy issue does.

[FourtySeven]

Only God can reconcile you. Forgiveness comes from God not the Priest. Christ said go and sin no more. Thats it. Even when he forgave sins he said your sins are forgiven without even asking the person to rattle them off in a stupid confessional box. You can have a direct relationship with God this very moment. You don't need a priest.

He also said this, "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; [and] whose soever [sins] ye retain, they are retained." John 20:23

Now you and I can disagree till the cows come home that this indicates that Jesus gave the power to forgive sins to His Apostles, but it won't be very fruitful, as it will degrade into a "Scripture war" which usually happens in Protestant circles.

Fortunately (for me), I have faith in a Church that's not only a great place to go to on Sunday, but I also have faith that this very same Church has the power to discern what Scripture REALLY says, through its (the Church's) own teaching, a teaching ability granted by the Holy Spirit.

Again that's my faith. I honestly don't know how Protestants live without a Magisterium, as without such, "Scripture wars" invariably result.

[Elsie]

How do I know, for example, that the man I'm confessing to isn't buggering boys **************, now or in the past?

Fill in the blank....

stealing
lying
coveting
worshipping another god
lazy
womanizing
mean to his mom/dad
(You get the picture....)


The answer is: You don't!

So why do you 'confess' to this guy in the FIRST place?

Tradition or Scripture?

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NIV Hebrews 7:25
   Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

 

NIV Hebrews 7:28
   For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.

 

NIV Hebrews 8:1-2
 1.  The point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,
 2.  and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man.

 

NIV 1 Peter 2:4-5
 4.  As you come to him, the living Stone--rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him--
 5.  you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

 

 

NIV 1 Peter 2:9
   But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

 

NIV Revelation 1:5-6
 5.  and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.   To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,
 6.  and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father--to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

 

NIV Revelation 5:10
   You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth."

 

It's WE, US, THEM and YOU who are the priests now, with Jesus being the High Priest.

[Courdeleon02]

No it is the Catholic Church that has molded the priesthood into what it wants.He(Christ) did not require his apostles to be celibate. This is a manmade teaching based on middle age thinking. Why is ok for a married episcopal priest or an eastern orthodox priest who converts to Catholicism allowed to remain married and still be priest.

[altura]

I believe your statistics may be a bit flawed.

[presidio9]

No, the typical case involves a gay teenager.

[Elsie]

Homosexuality is a sin, per the church...

Not quite.

MANY things are 'per the Church', but THIS is 'per the BIBLE'!

[Maeve]

Ugh. What a thread...

[newzjunkey]

A call as to be someone who can't be accused of not having practiced what is now being preached, he's called to have only been married once:

1  This saying is trustworthy: whoever aspires to the office
   of bishop desires a noble task.

2  Therefore, a bishop must be irreproachable, married only 
   once, temperate, self-controlled, decent, hospitable, able 
   to teach,

3  not a drunkard, not aggressive, but gentle, not 
   contentious, not a lover of money.

4  He must manage his own household well, keeping his
   children under control with perfect dignity;

5  for if a man does not know how to manage his own 
   household, how can he take care of the church of God?

6  He should not be a recent convert, so that he may not 
   become conceited and thus incur the devil's punishment. 

[Elsie]

Was Haggard, the homosexual protestant minister who just fell from grace, celibate?

Not quite the phrase needed here, a a 'fall for grace' comes from here:

---

Galatians 5
1. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
2. Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.
3. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.
4. You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

---

Haggard merely (?) sinned; he has NOT tried to justify getting into Heaven by following the LAW.

[bella1]

I always found it curious that the Catholic Church claims the priesthood comes down from Peter, the supposed first Pope,who, according to scripture, was married (Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law). It was Paul who never married and was the Apostle to Rome (book of Romans written by Paul to the church in Rome). You might have guessed that I am a former Catholic. Started reading the Bible and left the Catholic church and went to an independent Christian church. Interestingly, my uncle, a Catholic priest, had no problem with it, which nearly caused my mother to faint.

[FourtySeven]

I believe there is a problem with homosexuality in the priesthood, but it's not the only reason for the scandal today. Indeed, there has been abuse on girls too (granted not as much but still).

All in all, I'm glad to hear about this John Jay study. It sounds like a step in the right direction. It should provide some good groundwork for addressing this (apparently and sadly) old problem. At the very least, one can't say that the Church is involved in a "coverup", as some more rabid anti-Catholics claim, even today.

[Aquinasfan]

Your hopeless and you will never change your uncompromising attitude.

Can't compromise on the truths revealed to us by Christ's Church, nor are we to disobey the disciplines of His Church.

"If he will not listen to the church, treat him as a pagan or tax collector." --Jesus

[MayflowerMadam]

"US Catholic Church seeks to find root of priest sex abuse"

Guess they were out sick that day in Seminary when "sin" was covered.

[Courdeleon02]

Lets not forget that we are all Christians and ought not to emphasize our differences or claim to be superior to each other.Unfortuantely, the Catholic Church has been the one that excommuncates those that disagree with it. Luther did you guys a favor by challenging church authority. It was then that the Catholic Church tried to clean up its act. If it did not it would have faded into oblivion.

[Elsie]

 

Can we say "Keep the fags out" on FR or not?

 

We can say this!!!

 

 

Genesis 13:13
  Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD.
 

Genesis 18:20-21
 20.  Then the LORD said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous
 21.  that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know."

Genesis 19:4-7
 4.  Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom--both young and old--surrounded the house. 
 5.  They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them."
 6.  Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him
 7.  and said, "No, my friends. Don't do this wicked thing.

 

Psa. 12:8  The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honored among men.

         More?

Isaiah 3:9
   The look on their faces testifies against them; they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! They have brought disaster upon themselves.

 

Ezekiel 16:49-50
 49.  "`Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.
 50.  They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.

 

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But there IS hope!!!

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1 Corinthians 6:9-11

 9.  Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders
 10.  nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 
 11.  And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

 

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If you could NOT change, you would be in most pitiful shape.....

[Aquinasfan]

http://www.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/print5/022804_victims.htm

You're right. According to this Boston Globe article, the victims were 80% male, not 90%.

[Chili Girl]

"Our goal is to ascertain the causes of the clergy sexual abuse crisis and if we need to change any method we have now,"

Maybe let them marry???

The bible says a minister should be the husband of one wife (1Tim 3:2)