Child Molestation Among the Clergy

Family Research Report ^ | Mar-Apr 2003 | Dr. Kirk Cameron, Editor

[Remedy]

Ongoing Reflections on Priest

...The media, however, has made the actions of a few pedophile priests the main problem. Bad as it is, the main problem of errant priestly crimes is not in the area of pedophilia, which is strictly defined as an adult having sexual relations with someone below the age of puberty (12), but rather in the phenomena of priests with homosexual inclinations seeking out vulnerable youth. The secular press refuses to recognize that these priests are actively homosexual, not pedophiles.... Although one priest involved in sexual relations with teenage boys is one priest too many, still it should be stressed that the number of priests who have seduced teenage boys is a very small percentage of the 47,000 odd priests in the U.S.A. One report said that 177 priests throughout the USA have been removed from ministry. This of course is the source of serious scandal, which is made even greater by the anger of Catholic laity, who hold that our bishops have covered up these situations, and have made immense payments to settle law suits made by victims and their families. But one may ask whether our bishops as a body have been judged too harshly by both the media and our Catholic laity.

The archbishop said that the Catholic laity demand that any complaint against a priest concerning sexual abuse should be turned over to the D.A.'s office. Were he not to do so, he could be accused of covering up. This disclosure of individuals could lead to unsubstantiated charges against a priest, and, once published, this would do irreparable damage to the good reputation of the priest. He would be removed from his work, and not allowed to minister to the faithful until it is proven that the charges are false. In other words, priests are vulnerable to false accusations with no adequate defense.

But from the statistics on various dioceses - covering 30 or 40 years concerning priests' involvement with teenage boys - it is clear that the percentage of such crimes among priests is very low indeed. When recently in New York, Allentown, and Philadelphia, records of such sexual misbehaviour were submitted to District Attorney's offices, it was noted in the media that most of the cases were beyond the statute of limitations; however, throughout the country, one notes practically everyday one old case or another is brought to light. Unfortunately, this conveys the impression that such crimes are increasing, and the Church in America has been inept in taking care of victims, and in exercising necessary discipline of the accused priests.

Such views of 'designated Catholics' like Sullivan are put forth as expert moral opinion. But this is only a pose, leading up to the real message "which is that the Church will have to abandon its commitment to preserving the moral order in the sexual realm." The political purpose of the current crisis is "to break whatever hold the Catholic Church still has on morals, because morals, especially sexual morals, are the only thing which stands between the nations' beleagured individuals and families and the globalists control of culture through appetite..." (Jones, Culture Wars, April 2002).

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• SODOMY : Six out of 10 Americans Say Homosexual Relations Should Be Recognized as Legal
• SODOMY : St. Peter Damian's Book of Gomorrah
• Sex before 8 - or it's too late! Craige McMillan on how media covers for homosexual child abusers
• "Pedophilia Chic" Reconsidered (The taboo against sex with children continues to erode)
• Homosexuals target Boy Scouts

Homosexual Manifestos Finally, we will in all likelihood want to expunge a number of passages from your Scriptures and rewrite others, eliminating preferential treatment of marriage and using words that will allow for homosexual interpretations of passages describing biblical lovers such as Ruth and Boaz or Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Warning: If all these things do not come to pass quickly, we will subject Orthodox Jews and Christians to the most sustained hatred and vilification in recent memory. We have captured the liberal establishment and the press. We have already beaten you on a number of battlefields. ... You have neither the faith nor the strength to fight us, so you might as well surrender now."

• Targeting Children Part 1

• Targeting Children Part 2

• Queering Moral Education

• Thought Reform And The Psychology of Homosexual Advocacy

• Invasion of the mind snatchers
• SODOMY : Homosexual Rape and Murder of Children
• SODOMY : The Lords of Bakersfield (Powerful gay men. Vulnerable teen-age boys. Murder.)
• Child Molestation and the Homosexual Movement, by Steve Baldwin
• Coming Out of Pedophilia
• Crafting Bi/Homosexual Youth by Judith Reisman
• Gay Foster Parents More Apt to Molest
• Homosexuality and child molestation: the link, the likelihood, the lasting effects
• Homosexuals target Boy Scouts
• Child Molestation and Homosexuality
• Talking Points: Homosexuality and Child Sexual Abuse
• Report: Pedophilia more common among 'gays'

"Homosexual teachers are 8 to 10 times more likely to sexually involve themselves with pupils." J Psychology, 1996:130:603-613

[eno_]

Homosexuality is an adult choice. It is futile to try to persecute and/or legislate adult homosexuality out of society. And many adult homosexuals are highly productive contibutors to society.

The other side of the coin is that, if homosexuals want their liberties, the rest of us should get our freedom of association, so that if we do not want homosexuals in our schools, or if Catholics or other denominations do not want them in their churches, we non-homosexuals should be allowed to exclude homosexuals from those settings.

[jocon307]

"Self-reported sex crimes of nonincarcerated paraphiliacs."

This is a very interesting post. But can you tell me what paraphiliac means? I tried looking it up in the dictionary, but no help there. Thanks!

[KCmark]

Religion of piece.

[Cicero]

As we have seen in recent years, the media strongly favor the homosexual agenda, so it's likely that their figures are skewed even more than this writer suggests. The media are very reluctant these days to run stories that might harm the homosexual PR project.

I would also guess that Catholic clergy are overweighted. The media are biased against Catholicism, since the Church is one of the chief opponents of their agenda In recent years there has been a positive feeding frenzy focused on clergy sexual abuse. Also, the bishops have been forced to investigate and report on these activities, so the numbers are better known and more widely publicized. Further skewing the figures, many of these instances of Catholic clergy abuse go back 30 years, whereas most sexual crimes that old are no longer of interest to the media.

I was interested by the data on women clergy as sexual abusers. In a way, this isn't surprising, because many women seem to have gone into the clergy seeking power of a sort, and many of the women who seek power tend to be lesbians.

The Vagina Monologues, which is making the rounds of dissident Catholic colleges, suggests some of the thinking involved in this.

[Cicero]

That's exactly what was accomplished in earlier days, when homosexuality was criminalized but rarely if ever prosecuted when done in private. Adult homosexuals were free to do their thing quietly, without trying to proselytize society or school children.

While it's not always a good idea to have laws on the books that are not enforced, there's something to be said for the old system.

[Slyfox]

"Homosexual teachers are 8 to 10 times more likely to sexually involve themselves with pupils."

My oldest son's male kindergarten teacher was fired for something untoward. I never did find out what it was. But within a few months he was calling me to find out if he could take my son fishing. I worked my way out of that one. He called again about six months after that and asked again. I found out later that he had called some other parents to see if he could take their kids fishing. I get real creeped when I think about it.

[Dajjal]

ping

[eno_]

there's something to be said for the old system

Except that the "old system" invited fag bashing by bored cops. Driving an activity underground by using laws and police never worked very well. And cops ahve not exactly improved. When they can't get the burglary solution rate above 20%, they ain't gonna do much useful about a complex social and moral issue.

[narses]

Read:
http://www.edweek.org/sreports/abuse98.htm

A Trust Betrayed:
Sexual Abuse by Teachers


This three-part series on child sex abuse by school employees is the result of a six-month project by Education Week involving scores of interviews with state and local education and law-enforcement officials, other experts, teachers, principals, parents, and victims, as well as an extensive review of court documents, journal articles, and public-policy records.
(Read more "About This Series.")

* Part Three: "'Zero Tolerance' of Sex Abuse Proves Elusive," Dec. 16, 1998. It's all but impossible to find an educator, politician, or parent who thinks sex between school staff members and students is a good idea. Yet in 20 states, sex between a student and an adult employee is perfectly legal, as long as the young person is at least 16. And if the student is 17, add three more states to the list.

* "Principals Face a Delicate Balancing Act in Handling Allegations of Misconduct," Dec. 16, 1998. When it comes to probing sexual impropriety involving school employees and students, many experts say principals are better off calling in professional investigators than trying to put the pieces together by themselves. By trying to go it alone, many scholars and law-enforcement officials say, administrators risk violating their state's child-abuse reporting laws, jeopardizing the chances that justice will be done, or simply getting in way over their heads.

* "At One California School, a 'Never-Ending Nightmare,'" Dec. 16, 1998. A Los Angeles County teacher who had worked with inner-city gang members and taught children with severe emotional problems found his life turned upside-down when allegations surfaced that he and another school employee were having improper sexual contact with 13- and 14-year-old female students.

* "On College Campuses, a Gradual Move Toward Addressing Faculty-Student Sex," Dec. 16, 1998. While many officials and academics are concerned about the ethical implications of faculty-student dating, others fear an invasion of privacy if they try to restrict such relationships between adults. Due to this, some campuses have either vague policy or no policy on student-faculty relationships while other schools have banned them alltogether.

Part Two:
* "Cost Is High When Schools Ignore Abuse," Dec. 9, 1998. If there's anything worse than a school employee who sexually abuses students, it's a school that doesn't care. That's the consensus of an alarming number of students who are as bitter and angry at their schools as they are at the staff members who mistreated them. Convinced that they have been made victims a second time by a system that ranks adult interests above their own, many of these children and their families are taking their anger to court.

* "'Passing the Trash' by School Districts Frees Sexual Predators To Hunt Again," Dec. 9, 1998. Sexual abuse of students is rarely a passing fancy, and for some schoolhouse predators, it becomes a way of life. Left unchecked, they may leave a trail of molestation that stretches across many years and countless students' lives.

* "Shifting Legal Ground on Harassment Has Made It Harder for Victims To Win," Dec. 9, 1998. A 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling established that students could recover money damages in student-teacher sexual abuse cases under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. However, the decision failed to settle crucial questions about the circumstances under which a district could be held liable.

* "Living Through a Teacher's Nightmare: False Accusation," Dec. 9, 1998. This article chronicles the one teacher's ordeal of being publicly accused of sex crimes by a student whose account is later discredited. Although these situations do occur, it is actually quite rare.

Part One:
* "Sex With Students: When Employees Cross the Line," Dec. 2, 1998. Although it may start with an act as benign as a hug or a ride home from a tutoring session after school, far more often than many people think, those friendly moments mask the first steps by a teacher or coach down the road that leads to sexual relations with their young charges.

* "Abuse by Women Raises Its Own Set of Problems," Dec. 2, 1998. Cases in which female educators are cast in the culturally unfamiliar role of sexual predator, pose special challenges for schools, courts, and communities alike. With emotional dynamics that are often notably different from those involving men, such cases challenge any number of social stereotypes: Women are victims, not predators; boys who have sex with older women should consider themselves lucky; and love justifies even the most unlikely of matches.

* "Labels Like Pedophile Don't Explain the Many Faces of Child Sexual Abuse," Dec. 2, 1998. Pedophilia, the term popularly associated with the sexual abuse of children, does not apply in many cases of misconduct involving students and school employees, experts say.

* "In Youth's Tender Emotions, Abusers Find Easy Pickings," Dec. 2, 1998. Some adults are drawn to adolescents and younger children, experts in the field say, because they are so easy to manipulate. And while there is no single profile of a teacher who sexually abuses students, an ability to take advantage of their young targets' immaturity is a common trait.

[Aquinasfan]

Good post. Is it possible to bookmark threads anymore?

[Aquinasfan]

But within a few months he was calling me to find out if he could take my son fishing.

Yeesh. Maybe you should mention this to the police. Some parent might say "yes."

[Remedy]

Bookmark is directly below Keywords.

[ninenot]

While it's not always a good idea to have laws on the books that are not enforced, there's something to be said for the old system.

Agudath Yisroel (an Orthodox Jewish group) has filed an amicus in the Texas case now before the Supremes. Their position is that the law against homosexual activity, EVEN IF NOT ENFORCED, should remain on the books.

It is their contention that the law is "a teacher."

....a perspective which should be more common...

[ninenot]

What sayest the Researcher Polycarp about the figure found in the article that "32% of Catholic priests are homosexual"?

This is a point of contention between Sinky and me--I think the number should be MUCH lower, like 10%...

[Remedy]

SODOMY: Brief Of The States Of Alabama, South Carolina, And Utah (S.C.O.T.U.S.& Sodomy)

Presently, some fourteen States, including AMICI , have criminal statutes prohibiting either homosexual sodomy alone or all extramarital sodomy. Many States also discourage homosexual activity through policies regarding, for example, same-sex marriage, child custody, adoption, and foster parenting. And many States have laws that regulate other kinds of private consensual adult sexual activity, such as polygamy, incest, pedophilia, prostitution, and adultery. AMICI are concerned that, if this Court should adopt petitioners' expansive and undisciplined interpretation of the Constitution, many if not all of these laws will be invalidated.

[Aquinasfan]

Bookmark is directly below Keywords.

OK, dumb it down a little more. How do I bookmark this thread?

[Polycarp]

What sayest the Researcher Polycarp about the figure found in the article that "32% of Catholic priests are homosexual"?

I can hardly be called a "Researcher" on this issue....but from what I have read, anywhere from 40% to 85% of homosexually oriented priests act out in homosexual sexual behaviors.

Therefore anywhere from 15% to 60% of homosexually oriented priests are chaste. Thus its almost impossible to estimate the total number of priests with a homosexual orientation.

However, it is more likely that one may ascertain the number of homosexually oriented priests who act out in homosexual sexual behaviors, because of the bizarre and obsessive natures of the Same Sex Attraction Disorder behaviors and the difficulty of hiding such bizarre behaviors for long by a public figure such as a priest.

In our diocese, of approximately 100 priests, we know od approximately 20 homosexually active priests. If anywhere from 15% to 60% of homosexually oriented priests are chaste, then in our diocese we most likely have 30 to 40 out of 100 priests who are homosexually oriented, or approximately 35%.

BUT OUR DIOCESE IS LIKELY IN THE FAR HIGHEST PERCENTAGE RANGES.

The average diocese probably only has 5-8% sexually active homosexual priests, and 10-20% homosexually oriented priests.

So no, I do not believe 32% of all Catholic priests in the US are homosexual. I think that number is too high by about 50-100%

[Polycarp]

for discussion/debate

[Jim Noble]

In the full version of your excerpted article, Fr. Harvey says, "The 1961 document of the Congregation for Religious was dependent upon the state of our knowledge at that time concerning homosexuality. The document needs to be updated by the collective insights of the last forty years concerning homosexuality and nature and circumstances of contemporary forms of religious life"

The problem is that the "collective insights of the last forty years concerning homosexuality" contradict the collective insights of the prior 1,960 years, much if not all of recent research on this topic is worthless, and there is no reasonable basis to assert that forty years worth of recent "insights" should trump the wisdom of the centuries.