That is probably a fairly consistant number actoss the whole world.
But in an area of serving the faith of people there is zero tolerance.
I think there are additional bunk claims piling on by people who don't like Christianity or are simply hoping for a pay day. There certainly is no shortage of lawyers looking for a pay day.
My understanding is there were attempts to get counseling for these priests with problems and that failed badly.
The Catholic Church has a ton of bucks, so you see litigation against them more. But being humans are used in the clergy of all faiths, you are going to find bad or weak ones equally in all faiths.
Being you can't read hearts and minds easily, there willalways be some bad apples who get into where they shouldn't be.
The issue here is that any church handle these perverts better when they come to light quickly. Counseling didn't work.
I've always thought this was a not exactly true. The Church's primary assets are "tons of" real estate, buildings and art work. I know here in St. Louis, the Archdiocese sold the Archbishop's residence in the county along with other properties to help get the Archdiocese back in the black. But there are some properties that simply cannot be "sold."
And while the Church universal may have "money," many, many parishes have been closed not just because of a lack of priests, but also because they and especially their schools, can no longer be supported financially by the people of the parish. Upkeep is very expensive and quite a few parishes are well over 100 years old. Most are at least 50 years old.
The expense of building new churches and schools as the Catholic populace grows and moves to outlying areas is enormous. It explains why those parishes are so huge. My nephew lives in a parish that has 24,000 members. They celebrate 12 Masses each weekend, some of them simultaneously, in the church and in the gym.
Ministering to the spiritual and educational needs of over 1 billion people is costly. So when you write that the Church as "tons of money," you must realize that those lawyers and others are lining up to take what should be spent to spread and sustain the word and the work of Jesus Christ.
In a way it's a good issue even if it hurts the Church a bit. What they are accusing the Catholic Church of is allowing homosexuals to be around teenage boys and not putting teen molestors in prison ---which is something secular courts also don't do. The Catholic Church didn't encourage the homosexuals to molest the teens, it's something homosexuals do on their own.
The whole issue is really about the safety of kids around homosexuals ----and should end the talk of gay adoption and allowing homosexuals to teach in public schools. If the Church can be sued for what homosexuals do on their own, so can all other institutions including the government. It's time to admit there should be no homosexuals where children and teenagers are.
But the point of my post was to raise the question of priestly un-celibacy of an adult hetersexual and homosexual variety.
You didn't respond to that question at all. Do I take it that that is the common Catholic laypersons opinion? No outrage, no reform, just more coverup! Anything goes as long as priest doesn't break a law.