This Just In

[BigSqwert]

Catholic church blames 1960s, sexual revolution for sex abuse

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A study commissioned by U.S. Roman Catholic bishops concludes that neither the all-male celibate priesthood nor homosexuality caused the church's sexual abuse crisis, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.

 

The five-year study says the abuse occurred because priests who were poorly prepared and monitored, and were under stress, landed amid the social and sexual turmoil of the 1960s and '70s, according to the newspaper.

 

The "blame Woodstock" explanation has been floated by bishops for years but the study was likely to be regarded as the most authoritative analysis of the scandal in the Catholic Church in America, The Times reported.

 

Widespread abuse scandals involving Roman Catholic priests first erupted in Boston a decade ago, and the U.S. church has paid settlements totaling some $3 billion.

 

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops planned to release on Wednesday the report by researchers at New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

 

The researchers concluded that it was not possible for the church, or for anyone, to identify abusive priests in advance, according to the newspaper, which obtained an advance copy of the report.

 

The study concluded that many more boys than girls were victimized, not because the perpetrators were gay, but simply because the priests had more access to boys than to girls, the newspaper reported.

 

The Vatican has for years been struggling to control the damage that sexual abuse scandals in the United States and several European countries have done to the Church's image.

 

On Monday, the Vatican told bishops around the world that they must make it a global priority to root out sexual abuse of children by priests.

 

The Roman Catholic Church said in a letter that bishops should cooperate with civil authorities to end the abuse.

[bmags]

well, that's what the sexual revolution was all about: raping children and ruining their lives, while hiding the perpetrators and protecting them from prosecution.

[iamshack]

I've always thought you really have to look at the kind of men that become priests. I really have a difficult time believing that these men were all genuinely "called by God." My mother was a nun for 2 years because she wanted to get the hell out of her house and away from her mother. I think a lot of men sought out the priesthood because it offered them a sanctuary away from the problems and difficulties of modern life. The fact that they are required to remain celibate only exacerbated their strange tendencies.

 

3 BILLION in settlements! Incredible! And their still sitting on so much prime real estate across the world...

[farmteam]

Without putting TOO much consideration into it, I've always thought that celibacy wasn't really the root cause, but likely exacerbated the problem. I'd say more of it has to do with the fact that a pedophile is more likely to seek out a line of work where he has easier access to his potential victims.

[Texsox]

And they volunteer as sport coaches, Scout leaders, help out at youth centers, etc. They take on jobs ranging from Doctor to school janitor.

[farmteam]

And they volunteer as sport coaches, Scout leaders, help out at youth centers, etc. They take on jobs ranging from Doctor to school janitor.

 

But those jobs probably have way less of a "cover up" culture than the Church did/does, meaning it didn't all explode at once. Also, in those jobs I think there's a bit less of the "one on one" you can have as a Priest, as well as the inherent level trust parents have in you (or at least it used to be that way, before all the scandals). Yeah, a doctor also has plenty of one on one time and an inherent level of trust...but there's way more exhaustive and expensive training to be a doctor than training to be a priest.

[Texsox]

But those jobs probably have way less of a "cover up" culture than the Church did/does, meaning it didn't all explode at once. Also, in those jobs I think there's a bit less of the "one on one" you can have as a Priest, as well as the inherent level trust parents have in you (or at least it used to be that way, before all the scandals). Yeah, a doctor also has plenty of one on one time and an inherent level of trust...but there's way more exhaustive and expensive training to be a doctor than training to be a priest.

 

Schools, Scouts, sports teams all covered up these reports to "spare the child". Today, it is just easier to point to a single national or international organization like the Catholic Church or the Boy Scouts than schools and sports teams across the nation. But going way back, the whole culture covered this up. The most common was "a funny uncle" families were, and still are, reluctant to report abuse. I am glad that is changing.