U.S. Bishop: Sex Abuse Study May Be 'Startling'
 

http://news.myway.com/top/article/id/220537|top|10-20-2003::13:49|reuters.html

U.S. Bishop: Sex Abuse Study May Be 'Startling'


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Oct 20, 1:43 PM (ET)

By Philip Pullella
ROME (Reuters) - The president of U.S. Roman Catholic bishops said Monday an upcoming study of the sexual abuse of children by clergy in America in the past 50 years would likely produce "startling" numbers.

But in an interview with Reuters, Bishop Wilton Gregory cautioned that no other comparable study had been done. He called for surveys in other sectors to put the results into perspective because pedophilia was not just a Catholic problem.

"The bishops really want to be honest with our people and say 'this is the data we want to share with you'," Gregory said.

"The numbers are going to be startling because they are going to be aggregate, over 50 years, and they will be startling because there is no context.

"We don't have a similar study for the school system, for athletic coaches, for scouting programs, for doctors, for therapists," he said, adding that it would be impossible to say if the numbers were high or low compared to others.

Boston was the epicenter of a scandal that swept the United States last year after it was discovered that several dioceses had transferred priests known to have abused children from parish to parish without alerting the public.

Last December the Vatican approved revised U.S. rules to try to protect children and punish clergy guilty of sexual abuse.

The National Review board of the Catholic Bishops Conference commissioned the study -- which will include information from all 195 American dioceses -- to the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

Its purpose was to "re-establish a level of credibility and trust with our people" and to make sure children are protected, Gregory said.

The anonymous study does not include names of victims or offenders but is a compilation of information about offenders, victims, incidents of abuse, cost of therapy and legal fees.

"INSPIRE, URGE OR INVITE"

Gregory said he hoped the Catholic study would "inspire, urge or invite" other institutions to do the same in order to make children safe in all environments.

"I would hope that they would have the courage (to carry out their own studies) and decide that this is too important an issue...and if institutions are not forthcoming I would hope that other public entities would put the same pressure on them that we have been through," he said.

A number of U.S. Catholic officials and Vatican officials have said they felt the U.S. Church had been singled out for scrutiny for a problem that exists in other sectors of American society, including other religions.

"Certainly we as a Catholic Church have a primary responsibility because of the situation that we faced. There is no desire on our part to deny that, but we would also hope that fair-minded people would say 'this is a larger issue and let us review it in a larger context'," he said.

The archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Bernard Law, resigned last December after dozens of his own priests publicly called on him to step down, but the effects of the scandal still linger.

Last month the Archdiocese of Boston agreed to pay up to $85 million to settle lawsuits filed by hundreds of people who say they were sexually abused by clergy.

Other Studies
 

Studies on the Clergy,

Show that the clergy is way below the national average when it comes to adultry, divorce and sex crimes.

The only exception is pedophile activity by Catholic Priests. I personally believe it is because of celibacy. Pedophile activity from most surveys show Catholic Priests are much more likely to be involved in pedophile activity than the average member of the clergy and the public as a whole. I believe there is a link between that and celibacy. Catholics need to take a look a t Celibacy.

Keith

Probably Keith. But I don?t know any Clergy insider?s digits and stats. However, yours sound right to me based on what I?ve seen. In my opinion, Catholic celibacy isn?t necessarily the root cause so much as a tempting environment where the evildoers can hide in plane sight from the get-go, and no one would think anything out of the ordinary. And then add what appears a historic blind eye to some evil goings on like pedophilia and it?s an apparently easy gig for the sick ones. Perhaps the Catholic authorities ought to look at how the Eastern Orthodox Church handles the issue. Priests of the Black never marry-up but have a lot of organizational upward mobility in exchange. Priests of the White do marry but give up some upward mobility, as in forget becoming Metropolitan or the next level down.

Scamp

Keith,

Celibacyis a choice of lifestyle that is safe for thosewithoutlifetime partners. It is also, for those believers thatfindthey are alone,an act of obedience.

We knowit is not the original design of the Creator.

He sure didn't tell a lie when he told us, "It is not good for man to be alone". (those that are alonewill die early and be less healthy the stats say)

(I'm not feeling to good myself);)

Unfortunately life isn't always fair ie divorce, death.

Celibacy is not the problem. Not allowing men and women to follow their hearts in commitment to a lifetime relationship is the problem.

A man or woman's ability to minister effectivelyshould not be judged by their marital state. In factit's been my experience thattheir ministry is enhanced by a praying partner.

http://pages.prodigy.net/bestsmileys...ns3/HORSE2.GIF

What all said above...especially Little Sparrow.

I wish, and pray, that one day we will all care equally as much about homosexual rape in prisons... and that Rape Crisis Centers will take the lead in defense of men as strongly as they do of women.

There have been hundreds of boys, and maybe even girls, throughout the past 50 years who have been liberated from the Social Service system or Juvenile Detention to foster homes with priests. Only to find an expectation there they knew nothing of before.

Gay men lurk near bathrooms at bus stations, perhaps elsewhere, waiting for very young unaccompanied boys.

Gay men station themselves near GI boot and training bases, in bars, seeking out the teens just joined whose physical needs exceed their wisdom.

Gay men use the in-home health care and rehab system to gain access to physically helpless males.

Openly gay males claim sexual victimization by priests, for the money.

And yet, the debate has been centered on whether or not the predator's lifestyle is a "choice"...