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Church Abuse Report Authors Defend Findings as Critics Weigh In
New York Times ^ | May 19, 2011 | Laurie Goodstein

Posted on 05/31/2011 2:56:32 PM PDT by Dr. Eckleburg

The criminologists hired by the nation's Roman Catholic bishops to study the sexual abuse crisis in the church defended their findings on Wednesday at the bishops' headquarters - in particular their thesis that the abuse peaked in the 1960s and 1970s and dropped off significantly by the mid-1980s.

Sexual abuse victims and experts in the field began to absorb and criticize what is thought to be the most extensive study ever conducted of child sexual abuse within an institution, produced after five years by researchers from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York.

Karen Terry, the report's principal investigator and the dean of research and strategic partnerships at John Jay, said Wednesday at a news conference: "The peak of this abuse crisis is historical. That peak is over."

The report's conclusion was counterintuitive to many Catholics and abuse victims, because the scandal itself did not peak until 2002 with the revelations that the archbishop of Boston had knowingly reassigned serial abusers to serve in ministries where they continued to have access to young people.

That practice appears still to have been at work until very recently, at least in Philadelphia, where a grand jury in February found that about three dozen priests accused of abuse and inappropriate behavior with minors were still in ministry.

(Excerpt) Read more at mobile.nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Catholic; Current Events; History; Moral Issues
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1 posted on 05/31/2011 2:56:36 PM PDT by Dr. Eckleburg
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To: Dr. Eckleburg

“...in particular their thesis that the abuse peaked in the 1960s and 1970s and dropped off significantly by the mid-1980s.”

Well, that’s obviously true.

There are less than a dozen new cases reported per year nowadays.


2 posted on 05/31/2011 2:58:09 PM PDT by vladimir998 (When anti-Catholics can't debate they just make stuff up.)
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To: TSgt; RnMomof7; Alex Murphy; HarleyD; wmfights; Forest Keeper; the_conscience; Dutchboy88; ...
The report's conclusion was counterintuitive to many Catholics and abuse victims, because the scandal itself did not peak until 2002 with the revelations that the archbishop of Boston had knowingly reassigned serial abusers to serve in ministries where they continued to have access to young people.

That practice appears still to have been at work until very recently, at least in Philadelphia, where a grand jury in February found that about three dozen priests accused of abuse and inappropriate behavior with minors were still in ministry.

3 posted on 05/31/2011 2:58:21 PM PDT by Dr. Eckleburg ("I don't think they want my respect; I think they want my submission." - Flemming Rose)
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To: vladimir998

Your conclusion is contradicted by the rest of the article.

You should read it.


4 posted on 05/31/2011 3:01:10 PM PDT by Dr. Eckleburg ("I don't think they want my respect; I think they want my submission." - Flemming Rose)
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To: Dr. Eckleburg

There you go again, a supposed Republican believing in what the New York Slimes puts out.

OOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooh, no, not you?


5 posted on 05/31/2011 3:01:57 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: Salvation

This subject has been done to death on FR. Further discussion could yield nothing new. I recommend that no Catholic participate, if the Usual Suspects want to have another hate Catholics party, let them. We do not answer to them, or the New York Slimes.


6 posted on 05/31/2011 3:10:20 PM PDT by Judith Anne ( Holy Mary, Mother of God, please pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death.)
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To: Dr. Eckleburg

You wrote:

“Your conclusion is contradicted by the rest of the article.”

My conclusion is based upon the FACT that less than a dozen cases are being reported per years nowadays. Thus, my conclusion is the only possible one.


7 posted on 05/31/2011 3:13:53 PM PDT by vladimir998 (When anti-Catholics can't debate they just make stuff up.)
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To: Dr. Eckleburg

The article makes no mention of homosexuality. I have read elsewhere that the report concludes that homosexuality in the priesthood was not a cause of the abuse. If so, that pretty much tells you what you need to know about this report.


8 posted on 05/31/2011 3:29:33 PM PDT by Stingray51
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To: vladimir998
** conclusion is based upon the FACT that less than a dozen cases are being reported per years nowadays.**MO
In 2010,
seven credible cases of abuse were reported in a church that numbers over 65 million adherents.

9 posted on 05/31/2011 3:33:05 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: Salvation; Dr. Eckleburg
"There you go again, a supposed Republican believing in what the New York Slimes puts out."

The doctor has boasted in this Forum of being a professional journalist. With "journalistic standards" being what they are, the practice of finding a source to fit your editorial position, especially if it is the other old gray lady, the NY Slimes, shouldn't come as a shock to anyone.

10 posted on 05/31/2011 3:43:05 PM PDT by Natural Law
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To: Dr. Eckleburg

“The report’s conclusion was counterintuitive”

Interesting phrasing there. So because they feel it can not be right it is not right? It may be hard for them to accept but intuition is not a basis for analyzing the conclusions reached in any report let alone one which has used valid methodology to reach its conclusions.


11 posted on 05/31/2011 3:51:12 PM PDT by lastchance ("Nisi credideritis, non intelligetis" St. Augustine)
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Comment #12 Removed by Moderator

To: Salvation; Dr. Eckleburg

65 million adherents . . .

Uhhhhhhhh would that be AFTER subtracting out the 70% who don’t behave nor believe the least bit like RC’s?


13 posted on 05/31/2011 4:00:41 PM PDT by Quix (Times are a changin' INSURE you have believed in your heart & confessed Jesus as Lord Come NtheFlesh)
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To: Stingray51

Yes, it is the elephant in the room.....Notice how they say abuse young people, when it is almost 100% boys.

It would be interesting and informative if they would go into the childhood of the priests....I read in the 90’s how most of the abusers had been abused as boys by men. (It will prove it is a learned behavior, Oh MY!!!! Can’t have that!)

These deliberate omissions make this report meaningless. Catholic Church needs to let the cat out of the bag.....it will help them enormously to make the connection that child abuse leads to child abuse.

Promoting homosexuality is child abuse, by definition, because it is a learned behavior. Homosexuality is always caused by emotional/physical abuse. Sexual identity is directed towards an object during childhood.

Men who rape babies and animals are not “born” with that desire. It is learned—by abuse.


14 posted on 05/31/2011 4:08:32 PM PDT by savagesusie
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To: Quix; Judith Anne; Dr. Eckleburg
"According to the altar boys,..."

What would you know about altar boys and why does any thread with this as a subject seem to get so many of you so excited? I swear some of you need a cigarette when the thread is done.

Am I correctly interpreting the explosion of multi-colored fonts and hackneyed images as something more than the lack of cogent thoughts and a proper vocabulary?

15 posted on 05/31/2011 4:20:10 PM PDT by Natural Law
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To: Judith Anne; Salvation; Dr. Eckleburg; Alex Murphy
This subject has been done to death on FR. Further discussion could yield nothing new.

Yes. I sure get tired of reading about all these priests who sexually abuse youngsters month after month, year after year. It does get boring with article after article about them and certainly its become ho-hum. Why I suspect the writers have a program to fill in the blanks. While it may save time and effort, it does make the articles sound just like the ones we read last week, last month, last year, year after year.

16 posted on 05/31/2011 4:46:19 PM PDT by HarleyD
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To: lastchance; HarleyD; Quix; Alex Murphy; Gamecock

No, I think the author is saying that we can either believe the tripe put out by this Roman Catholic commission excusing all sorts of pederasty/pedophilia/corruption or we can believe our own lying eyes which tell us this scandal continues unabated throughout the RCC right up to the present today.


17 posted on 05/31/2011 4:55:51 PM PDT by Dr. Eckleburg ("I don't think they want my respect; I think they want my submission." - Flemming Rose)
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To: vladimir998

That is not the conclusion of the article.


18 posted on 05/31/2011 4:57:12 PM PDT by Dr. Eckleburg ("I don't think they want my respect; I think they want my submission." - Flemming Rose)
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To: Salvation
There you go again, a supposed Republican believing in what the New York Slimes puts out.

Not only are you "making this personal," but to dismiss an article written in a similar manner with similar facts in one form or another in hundreds of other newspapers is pretty myopic.

Everyone's out of step but Rome.

19 posted on 05/31/2011 5:00:32 PM PDT by Dr. Eckleburg ("I don't think they want my respect; I think they want my submission." - Flemming Rose)
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To: Dr. Eckleburg
"Not only are you "making this personal,""

Is that statement from your role as Co-Moderatrix or as the Alter Moderatus?

Everyone's out of step but Rome."

A billion Catholics are marching in unison and it's the few thousand OPC that are 'in step'? Talk about hubris.

20 posted on 05/31/2011 5:10:12 PM PDT by Natural Law
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