Posted on 07/16/2007 9:50:41 PM PDT by BigJohn44
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay over $600 million to settle claims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests in that diocese. This is the latest in a string of multi-million dollar payouts by Catholic diocese throughout the country.
Perhaps it is time to take another look at the most comprehensive study of Catholic priest sexual abuse ever conducted. In 2002, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops commissioned a national study of sexual abuse by Catholic priests.
The study, conducted by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, found that nationwide, approximately 4400 Catholic priests were credibly accused of sexual abuse incidents occurring between 1950 and 2002, and that 81 percent of their victims were male. Some 78 percent of the males allegedly abused were adolescent males between the ages of 11 and 17.
Pertinent excerpts of the executive summary of the John Jay study are quoted below. See http://www.usccb.org/nrb/johnjaystudy/exec.pdf
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The information contained in this report is based upon surveys provided by 195 dioceses, representing 98% all diocesan priests in the United States, and 140 religious communities, representing approximately 60% of religious communities and 80% of all religious priests.
* * *
The mandate for the study was to: 1. Examine the number and nature of allegations of sexual abuse of minors under the age of 18 by Catholic priests between 1950 and 2002.
* * *
The total number of priests with allegations of abuse in our survey is 4,392.
* * *
The largest group of alleged victims (50.9%) was between the ages of 11 and 14, 27.3% were 15-17 . . . . Overall, 81% of victims were male . . . .
(Excerpt) Read more at usccb.org ...
The sexual abuse by Catholic priests which has given rise to the recent scandals and lawsuits is overwhelmingly homosexual in nature.
81 percent of the victims were male. And most of the male victims were adolescents between the ages of 11 and 17. The offenses were committed almost entirely by gay men who had been ordained as priests.
So the following questions can be asked: Was it primarily the Catholic Church, or the Homosexual Community, that committed the abuse? Which was a more significant factor leading to the abuse: the abusers' homosexuality, or their Catholicism? And, fundamentally,
WHEN IS THE HOMOSEXUAL COMMUNITY GOING TO ACKNOWLEDGE MORAL AND FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR ITS CONTRIBUTION TO THE SEXUAL ABUSE OF THE VICTIMS IN QUESTION?
Again, the overwhelming majority (81%) of the abuse was gay sexual advances on male adolescents. This is more a gay scandal than a Catholic scandal. It is time to treat it as such.
bookmark for later.
It looks like it wasn’t a good idea to send young teenage boys into an all male environment for seminary school.
This was where many of the abusers came from.
They had homosexual experiences at these schools - sometimes in the form of abuse from teachers or priests - but also experimentation with each other.
When they became adults and were ordained - the roaring 60’s gave them all the “excuses” they needed to justify their treatment of altar boys.
Is this a catholic problem? No - not in the sense it has anything to do with Church teaching.
But - it was catholics who set up this arrangement and unwittingly contributed to the problem.
Is it a gay problem? Sure...but it also points to that mysterious origin of same sex attraction....if these men had not been placed in that situation - would they have developed normal heterosexual feelings?
Unfortunately, few in the Church at a level to be influential would ever answer the question because they wouldn’t want to “offend” either side.
The Catholic Church knowingly allowed homosexuals to be priests and to have ready access to innocent children fully understanding their tendency towards abuse of children. There's no getting away from this.
A Marxist named Gramsci (See Keyword) came up with some of the key elements of this evil strategy 80 years ago.
26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as “normal, natural, healthy.”
27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with “social” religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a “religious crutch.”
38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand [or treat].
39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.
40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.
41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.
Communist Goals (1963)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1803116/posts
Way back in 1980 a shipmate of mine was back in active duty after taking time out to join a Roman Catholic Seminary. When he returned he said the homosexual activity in the Seminary was nauseating. This is a direct violation of the Church’s own laws, or Canons. A known homosexual cannot be ordained as a priest - that is the Church’s own laws - but it appears that the male heirarchy is riddled with homosexuals. I wouldn’t be surprised to find that even American Bishops are homosexuals. Mahoney has been hiding perps in monasteries across the western U.S., keeping them out of the clutches of the secular justice system. I personally find his behavior suspect.
As far as I am concerned it is a homosexual problem. not a celibacy problem.
BTW, the seminaries are on the way to being cleaned out. The striaght guys will no longer put up with it.
What the Catechism of the Catholic Church says about homosexuality
no one ever calls it a homosexual scandal which is what it is because it runs exactly to the same vein as homosexual chickenhawking which is hardly an unusual proclivity for fags whether priests or not
very few Catholic clergy have touched on this either but I think Ratzinger may have(?)...if so...to his credit
they need to clean house...but can they?
Thank you for laying the blame where it really belongs, with the Communists!
Well, the English public schools had such problems, but the seminaries were better monitored. The main malefactors were the seminaries that during the ‘70s dropped anl effeort to weed out students who were too “friendly.” in large part because they needed to keep their numbers up.
The Church should turn around and sue the gays.
The Survivors Network of Abuse by Priests (SNAP.net) has also issued a release citing sexual abuse of minors by Baptist ministers.
One of the biggest problems is pedophiles look to the clergy as a way to conceal their depradations. In other words, a sexual predator wants to become a minister, because it is a position, in which he assumes that nobody will suspect him.
Even more importantly, the younger Bishops are refusing to send their priest candidates to the seminaries that were lax in upholding Church teachings, or were notorious for being overrun with homosexuals in authority. This will help the formation of this new generation of priests, and those to follow.
Well, if I have to use the study’s terms:
The “Homosexual Community” (in this case, Roman Catholic homosexual priests) committed the abuses.
The Catholic Church (in this case, bishops, other priests) aided and abetted, and hid these abuses. They fostered an atmosphere where it could continue under everyone’s radar.
as I understand it (wish I could find the article I read this in....I read it about 2 yrs ago)
The worst offenders went into seminary in the 40’s & 50’s.
Most of the abuse occurred during the 70s & 80s.
**The Survivors Network of Abuse by Priests (SNAP.net) has also issued a release citing sexual abuse of minors by Baptist ministers.**
Tell me when they get to the NEA and all the teachers, OK!
Most of the victims were teenage boys. I don’t consider this to be pedophilia per se, although legally it probably is.
I do agree that gays found the priesthood to be a convenient framework in which to practice homosexuality and feel respected and loved.
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