The article is from a Protestant journal with the focus on protestant clergy.
The article never mentions "Protestant", the title doesn't mention "Protestant" and the description of the study clearly states that it is all faiths.
You actually changed the title of the article to turn this into a religion war thread, that is despicable, you even posted the related links to further reinforce the impression that this was a story about Protestants. The actual title is.
"Survey Reveals Prevalence of Clergy Sexual Misconduct "
"Clergy sexual misconduct was defined as minister, priests, rabbis, or other clergypersons or religious leaders who make sexual advances or propositions to persons in the congregations they serve who are not their spouses or significant others."
“The article is from a Protestant journal with the focus on protestant clergy.”
“Clergy sexual misconduct was defined as minister, priests, rabbis, or other clergypersons or religious leaders who make sexual advances or propositions to persons in the congregations they serve who are not their spouses or significant others.”
The study does not appear to exclude Catholic clergy, or include anyone but women. The thread title should probably be changed to accurately reflect the article title.
Gay sexual misconduct does not appear to be addressed, not sure to what extent that would change things, statistically, for this study,
Of course it is.
Misconduct is a big problem always, among catholics and non-catholics alike. Not in numbers, but in terms of the damage done. Catholics have seen some of their problems become public in a very big way, but obviously some high-profile non-catholic ministers have blown up over the years too.
But besides the ones who blow up publicly, there are others whose problems never make the front page.
And its funny, the very hierarchical nature of the catholic church has been usurped by many, they've managed to use the system to avoid detection or avoid consequences. The very un-hierarchical nature of some non-catholic churches has often allowed a different kind of charlatan to exist. Most people can smell a phony a mile away, but there are always enough people who can't to keep these jaybirds in business.
You always have to approach clergy, as with anyone else, with some discernment. Let the Holy Spirit guide. Look at his personal life, not for perfection but for signs that he's out of balance behind the scenes. Listen to what he says from the pulpit; is it scriptural, does he seem to be led by the Spirit?
I've seen some real crackpots over the years who manage to swim in those waters and they get by thanks to people who are looking for God and can't tell the difference between the real thing and a conman. And I've seen ministers and priests who quite evidently didn't have the calling. And I've seen people in various parts of the ministry who believed that their importance to the work gave them some kind of immunity. Its funny, God does grant us a lot of freedom but abuse your freedom and the slap-down can be quite dramatic. Ignore God's warnings, he seems to give people warnings as they are going off the track, but ignore them and you're headed for a very public reckoning.
And, as I alluded to earlier, ministers and priests are subject to pressures and temptations and even blackmail in a way that most people never are. They get hit on every day, and counseling with people they can find themselves in an awkward position from time to time, which is why as I said its important that they avoid meeting with people alone, its too easy to be accused of something you didn't do. I've also seen or heard of cases like that. Keep the door open so the church lady in the next room can be your witness. Take someone with you when you go to call.
Its easy to make the mistake of thinking that, because your heart is pure, no one could ever mistake your intentions. They mistake them all the time.
Beyond that, I wish guys in the ministry who are out of control would admit it to themselves and take that year off to deal with it. Some do, some keep going until they have that train wreck. We recently had an assistant pastor step down to deal with personal issues. He didn't specify in too much detail, unresolved problems having to do with his family life. He had delayed while the church was involved with some special projects he was in charge of, but once those were done he filmed a two minute video resignation and stepped out of the lime-light to deal with it, whatever it is.
I wish more people would do that.