Draft survey: 4,450 priests accused of child sex abuse - CNN

[TacticalPeek]

Monday, February 16, 2004 Posted: 1930 GMT ( 3:30 AM HKT)

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Children
accused more than 4,000 priests of
sexual abuse in the years between
1950 and 2002, according to a draft
survey commissioned by the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The survey, to be released February 27,
found that children made more than
11,000 allegations of sexual abuse by
priests. The 4,450 accused priests are
about 4 percent of the 110,000 priests
who served during the 52 years covered
by the study.

The report is based on a nationwide
survey of church records, and was
compiled by the John Jay College of
Criminal Justice for the conference. The
bishops' conference commissioned the
survey to get a better understanding of
the scope of the crisis.


more

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/US/02/16/church.abuse/

[cardlaw]

1. And the

Catholic Church dares to say same-sex marriage is a blight on society.

[cubsfan6969]

2. Mel Gibson

You would think that Mel Gibson would be more interested in this instead of making an anti-semitic movie.

[kysrsoze]

3. Isn't Gibson a Catholic who doesn't believe in the Vatican?

I'd be interested to see Gibson's opinion on gay marriage since he undoubtedly works with gays on a daily basis in Hollywood.

Is this movie really anti-semitic, or is it just a portrayal of what is written in the Bible (right or wrong)? Why didn't Last Temptation of Christ get the same treatment?

I'm just getting really tired of seeing everything PC'd to death. I can't believe CBS had to apologize about Outkast's costumes at the grammys.

[FredScuttle]

18. Either you have a short memory...

or you're too young to have experienced the absolute riots surrounding "Last Temptation of Christ" in 1988. Scorcese was villified by the religious fanatics here who went absolutely apeshit over a dramatization of Christ's last hours that dared depart from Scripture. I clearly remember making my way through the picket lines in front of the theater in my town where it was showing. I'd say the furor over "Last Temptation" was every bit as intense (if not more so) than that over "The Passion"

I would guess Mel has a less-than-positive view on gay marriage given his oft-quoted homophobic tendencies.

As for everything being too "PC" these days, walk a mile in a minority's shoes before you cavalierly dismiss their complaints as too "sensitive"

[MarkTwain]

4. And, as any experienced....

.... and practicing professional in the field of abuse - or even an individual who is well read in the literature - can tell you :

If 11,000 victims have come forward and 4,500 abusers have been targets that means that the real numbers are more like 44,000 victims with about double the abusers. A conservative estimate.

So, the one, holy, apostolic, and "true" Roman Catholic Church has had about one out of every twelve priests in its employ who was a vile, contemptible, and sick abuser.

Moreover, does anyone really expect any reasonable adult to believe that while such a significant percentage of its employee base was allowed to commit these gross felonies on dozens of children at dozens, if not hundreds, of times, that they did so without the direct cover-up of the authorities that ran this tragic and intellectually primitive organization?

Therefore, factor in another ten percent in the administration who knew and participated in the cover-up, with another good thirty percent who would have been directly well aware of this long term travesty of institutionalized pedophilia - and you have well over half of the Roman Church who are specifically and absolutely complicit in one of the most heinous travesties in modern times.

Shepherds. Yeah, right. Hide the sheep.

[Voltaire99]

19. Brilliant post

Well said!

[Stevendsmith]

5. The Catholic Church

is a protection racket for child rapists.

[bleedingheart]

6. I wonder how many Perverts are in the Protestant, Jewish, Muslim and

other faiths?

This problem is not limited to the Catholic Church. They may have handled it poorly and done detestable things but let us not label all Catholics and Catholic Priests as molesters.

There are plenty of sickos in other faiths.

[DoYouEverWonder]

7. Does all those other religions require their clergy to be celebate?

I think you will find a big difference between religions that allowed their leaders to live normal lives as opposed to the Catholic Church with its insane and out of touch beliefs and requirements.

[bleedingheart]

10. I don't think celibacy is the issue.

There are loads of married people who commit rape, child molestations etc.

There are cases where the "typical family man".. coaches the little league team and is the Boy Scout troop leader and he is molesting kids.

If anything celibacy is the reason why many men do not enter the priesthood, thus the shortage of priests. Practicing celibacy doesn't mean that it will turn someone into a molester of children as there are plenty of married people who are molesting kids too. Look at that teacher who became pregnant by a 12 year old student...she wasn't a priest but she was surely molesting a child.

[Rich Hunt]

11. that is incorrect

It is entirely possible for a priest to have a consensual adult relationship.

This article from Z Magazine explains very well how offensive this logic can be:

Obviously many pundits think so, since this seems to be a favorite explanation of the misdeeds of corrupt priests. What’s the solution? Equally obvious: abolish the pernicious doctrine of celibacy. Start marrying off the priesthood. If each man is provided with a compliant lifelong sexual servant—er, partner—of his own, then his wife can absorb any aggressive sexual energies he may contain, so that the larger community won’t be harmed.

(Image)

Woman as blotting paper; woman as lightning rod; woman as sacrificial anode. Any woman who has desperately negotiated and pleaded to keep an abusive husband or boyfriend’s sexual attentions focused on her rather than her teenage daughter, knows what this is all about—putting her body between the dominant male and his chosen prey.

Behind these blandly respectable proposals to marry off the priests, to end the “barbaric” doctrine of celibacy, which “forces” men to abuse children, is an unspoken message: adult women are more expendable than little boys. Though we all know that adult men molest little girls as well, it’s overwhelmingly the wide-eyed altar boy whom the political cartoonists (and the popular mind that they represent) imagine at risk from the predatory priest. To deflect all that predatory male sexual energy from harming him, we obviously need a legion of dutiful wives.


http://www.zmag.org/ZMagSite/Oct2002/Feature/clarke1002.htm

[Rich Hunt]

12. plenty of child molesters in the public sphere, too

Schools, athletic clubs, after-school programs, etc.

I'm waiting for the scandalous expose on American families. I'm guessing that a huge of molested children are molested by family members or neighbors.

[patcox2]

16. Overwhelming majority of abuse is by family members

Uncles, mom's new boyfriend, fathers. The statistic of 11,000 accusations over 50 years is meaningless without the comparison, how many were abused by scout leaders, how many were abused by teachers, how many were abused by relatives. Whats the total? The catholic church did "cover up," its true. Its always shocking to see christianity practiced (forgiveness, judge not, etc.) Shocking and painful, thats the point of turning the other cheek, its not mercy if they're innocent. But leaving aside that moral judgment, that they should have turned out the abusers, I have yet to see evidence that the abuse problem is particularly bad in the catholic church as compared to any identifiable group which has regular access to children and thus the opportunity for this crime to occur.

[LiberalFighter]

8. How many priests have there been total since 1950?

Just wonder what the percentage of bad priests in the church.

[dand]

9. Perverts in the Catholic Church...

Are as content as hogs in corn.

[Rich Hunt]

14. more anti-Catholic crap

Ah, anti-Catholicism, the most 'liberal' of prejudices....

[megatherium]

15. Hear, hear

I am not a big fan of a church that covers up child abuse and bashes gay people in the process (by insinuating that what's really going on is gay priests hitting on teenaged boys). I have big problems with the church's position on numerous theological and political issues (e.g., a celibate and male priesthood, and their opposition to condoms in the fight against AIDS).

But I have the deepest respect for many of the religious and laity in that church, including friends of mine, who are living lives of charity and love.

I should mention some years ago, I worshipped with a local chapter of Dignity as an Episcopalian. I'm somewhere between liberal Christian and agnostic these days, but I wouldn't want anyone to confuse my anger at the church or my criticism of the church for a prejudice against of the church or anyone in it.

[JailForBush]

13. Sheez, Catholic priests are giving corporate execs a run for the money!

Will every adult in America who hasn't sexually abused or exploited a child please raise his or her hand? You won't find many examples here in Seattle.

[dw]

17. A very readable but difficult book on the subject...

Predators: Pedophiles, Rapists, and Other Sex Offenders: Who They Are, How They Operate, and How We Can Protect Ourselves and Our Children by Anna C. Salter

If you're interested in an in-depth study of these people, I highly recommend Salter's book, and...

Identifying Child Molesters: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse by Recognizing the Patterns of the Offenders by Carla Van Dam

If you think you could detect a child abuser, if you think you know what one looks or acts like, if you think your kids are safe with that 'nice', 'safe' adult... read on.