| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Therion Ware" |
| Date: |
27 Feb 2004 03:33:39 PM |
| Object: |
BBC News: RC Church 'shamed' over sex abuse. |
Church 'shamed' over sex abuse
More than 4,000 Roman Catholic priests in the US have faced sexual
abuse allegations in the last 50 years, a new report commissioned by
the Church says.
The figure represents about 4% of clergymen in the US during that
time.
More than 10,000 children - a large majority boys - were allegedly
abused, but victims' representatives say this appears to be an
underestimate.
A separate report described the church leaders' failure to act
effectively as "shameful to the church".
The head of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, Wilton Gregory,
repeated the church's apology to all those who had suffered abuse from
members of the clergy and appealed for victims to come forward.
Many dysfunctional and psychosexually immature men were admitted into
seminaries and later ordained in the priesthood
Robert Bennett
National Review Board member
But, in a BBC interview, a spokeswoman of the survivors of church
abuse accused the Church of continuing to protect the perpetrators and
urged the bishops to release their names to the public so a database
could be established.
Damning tally
The National Review Board - a lay watchdog panel formed by the bishops
- issued two studies documenting the molestation problem from 1950 to
2002.
The first report details the scope of the "epidemic of child abuse" -
10,667 claims.
More than 80% of the alleged victims were male and over half said they
were between the age of 11 and 14 when they were assaulted - with
alcohol and drugs the single most usual enticement.
ABUSE FIGURES 1950-2002
10,667 children victimised by 4,392 priests
More than 80% male 11-14 years old
4% of US Catholic priests involved
More than 10% of claims could not be substantiated
About 20% not investigated because accused priest was dead or inactive
when allegation received
40% of the abuse took place in rectories
97% of 195 dioceses, plus 142 religious communities filled out surveys
Abuse by clergy increased suddenly in the 1950s and 1960s and peaked
in 1970 - one in 10 priests ordained in that year was accused of
abuse.
The second report examined the causes - based on interviews with
clergy, victims, and experts on sex offenders.
It blames US bishops for their failure to screen applicants to
seminaries and for recycling abusive priests between parishes rather
than dismissing them.
"These leadership failings have been shameful to the church," the
report said.
"Many dysfunctional and psychosexually immature men were admitted into
seminaries and later ordained in the priesthood," said Robert Bennett
of the National Review Board.
More to come?
Some Roman Catholics will hope the report will help to close a painful
and humiliating chapter in the Church's history, says the BBC's
religious affairs correspondent Robert Piggott.
But Barbara Blaine, president of SNAP - a network of survivors of
abuse - dismissed the figures, which had been provided in "a voluntary
self-survey" by the "same bishops who had shielded the perpetrators".
Bishops refused to disclose the names of perpetrators, instead of just
numbers "which are useless", Ms Blaine told the BBC's Newshour
programme.
She said that only 5-10% of victims of child sexual abuse reported the
crime - far fewer did in the case of abuse by priests.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/americas/3491926.stm
Published: 2004/02/27 19:59:45 GMT
© BBC MMIV
--
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- Attrib: Pauline Reage.
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** atheist poster child #1 ** #442.
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| User: "johac" |
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| Title: Re: BBC News: RC Church 'shamed' over sex abuse. |
28 Feb 2004 03:35:50 AM |
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In article <irdv30lfe0t0v8r0jodoa2cd33dhg2u996@4ax.com>,
Therion Ware <autodelete@city-of-dis.com> wrote:
Church 'shamed' over sex abuse
More than 4,000 Roman Catholic priests in the US have faced sexual
abuse allegations in the last 50 years, a new report commissioned by
the Church says.
The figure represents about 4% of clergymen in the US during that
time.
Those were just the ones who got caught or the bishops couldn't hide.
More than 10,000 children - a large majority boys - were allegedly
abused, but victims' representatives say this appears to be an
underestimate.
Those were just the ones who came forward. I am sure that many more are
still too ashamed or too scared.
A separate report described the church leaders' failure to act
effectively as "shameful to the church".
No kidding. Not only didn't they act, but in many cases they actively
tried to cover up the abuse, usually by moving the offending priest
around from parish to parish.
<snip rest>
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
"Men become civilized not in their willingness to believe, bit in
proportion to their readiness to doubt." - H. L. Mencken
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| User: "Bob Dog" |
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| Title: Re: BBC News: RC Church 'shamed' over sex abuse. |
27 Feb 2004 11:42:58 PM |
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Therion Ware <autodelete@city-of-dis.com> wrote in message news:<irdv30lfe0t0v8r0jodoa2cd33dhg2u996@4ax.com>...
Church 'shamed' over sex abuse
More than 4,000 Roman Catholic priests in the US have faced sexual
abuse allegations in the last 50 years, a new report commissioned by
the Church says.
The figure represents about 4% of clergymen in the US during that
time.
More than 10,000 children - a large majority boys - were allegedly
abused, but victims' representatives say this appears to be an
underestimate.
Of course, there's no mention of the fact that there are
no altergirls or women in the seminaries.
Availability, not preference, determines the victims.
Has anyone ever heard of a catholic peder^H^H^H^Hriests
who "laid their hands" on adult men? Rarely. Invariably
the adult victims are women.
A separate report described the church leaders' failure to act
effectively as "shameful to the church".
Or just shameful of religion in general. When trust is
placed into any group simply because they are religious,
this sort of depravity always happens; there have even
been instances of buddhist monks in Vietnam or Thailand
(I forget which) doing this.
Many dysfunctional and psychosexually immature men were admitted into
seminaries and later ordained in the priesthood
That's what scientists have been saying for years, that
it's sexually disfunctional people who molest, not gays,
but that won't be the focus of the religious propagandists
or the media.
It blames US bishops for their failure to screen applicants to
seminaries and for recycling abusive priests between parishes rather
than dismissing them.
The real sickening part is why these people weren't thrown
out of the "church": because young single men aren't willing
to give up marriage. They're running out of priests, so
they will keep anyone they can regardless of what they do.
The celibacy rule has caused a lot of these abuses.
Bob Dog
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