Catholic bishops: Over 1,000 new claims of abuse

by Dogpatch 17 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Dogpatch

  from http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/18/church.abuse.ap/index.html

  This is the headlines that should ber facing the WT organization! - Randy

  Catholic bishops: Over 1,000 new claims of abuse

  WASHINGTON (AP) -- The nation's Roman Catholic bishops said Friday that over the last year they received 1,092 new allegations of sexual abuse against at least 756 Catholic priests and deacons.

  Half of the accused priests over the past year had been previously accused of abuse, said Kathleen McChesney, executive director of the bishops' Office of Child and Youth Protection.

  Most of the alleged incidents occurred decades ago: 72 percent of the priests were either dead, defrocked or removed from public ministry before the newest allegations were received, McChesney said.

  The information came as the bishops released a new national audit of U.S. dioceses to determine how well they've complied with the child protection policy American prelates instituted more than three years ago at the height of the clergy molestation crisis. Teams of auditors, comprised mainly of former FBI agents, compiled data in visits to dioceses across the country.

  The auditors found that more than 95 percent of dioceses have taken the required steps to keep children safe.

  But the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said the audits were "minimal and misleading," contending bishops had too much control over who participated in the review.

  The report is the latest in a series the bishops commissioned to restore trust in their leadership after the clergy molestation crisis erupted in the Archdiocese of Boston and spread nationwide.

  Last year, the bishops released an unprecedented statistical review that found 4,392 priests had been accused of molesting minors in 10,667 cases between 1950 and 2002.

  A first series of audits, also released a year ago, found 90 percent of the 195 U.S. dioceses were fully compliant with the child protection policy the bishops adopted under intense public pressure in June 2002. But auditors also found shortcomings in the reforms, such as ineffective monitoring of guilty priests.

  The bishops have already authorized a third national audit this coming year, however they angered victims' groups by deciding to reduce the number of dioceses that will receive full onsite reviews.
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  Mary

  You know, if the Catholic Church would let priests MARRY and have normal sexual relations, they probably wouldn't be in this predicament........
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  paws

  organised and structured ANYTHING that restricts people in such a way as to attempt to place them into a jam jar with the lid screwed down can only produce the opposite of the life that everyone has the God given right to.
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  stillajwexelder

  organised and structured ANYTHING that restricts people in such a way as to attempt to place them into a jam jar with the lid screwed down can only produce the opposite of the life that everyone has the God given right to. EXACTLY SO ---- if the Catholic Church would let priests MARRY and have normal sexual relations, they probably wouldn't be in this predicament........ BECAUSE IT WILL only produce the opposite of the life that everyone has the God given right to.
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  heathen

  True , giving the priests the right to marry and remain a priest would only be normal but being a pedophile is some sort of sickness reguardless of marital status . I think it stupid to say that if they just let these people marry they won't be pedophiles . It wouldn't matter , they supposedly have guidelines in church doctrine or the bible that condemns this type of behaviour and they should clearly know better than to do what they did .
• 

  the_classicist

  In the Eastern Catholic rites, priests are allowed to get married before they are ordained. It is only in the Latin Church where this is not so.

  The real problem is that for the past few decades the people in charge of the seminaries chose to admit many people who didn't have any sexual interest in women (big mistake). These things are detailed in Michael Rose's book Goodbye, Good Men, which was on the New York Times Bestseller list.
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  Mary

  being a pedophile is some sort of sickness reguardless of marital status . I think it stupid to say that if they just let these people marry they won't be pedophiles

  See, I think it has a great deal to do with it. Whenever you deny men the right to have normal sexual relations, bad things can happen. Look at what happens to men in prison: they're denied sex with their women, so they either rape those who are "weaker", or have mutual sex with each other. If these men weren't in this particular situation, for the most part, it's highly unlikely that they'd want to have sex with another man, but due to circumstances beyond their control---this is what happens.

  To me, it's the same thing with priests. They're not allowed to marry and have normal relations, so what happens? They rape those that are "weaker" than them, namely children.

  There seems to be a disproportionate number of priests who are also pedophiles, which leads me to believe that this is not just something that happens---it's happening because they're not allowed to have normal sex.
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  heathen

  All I can say to that is , I don't have women in my life and I would never consider young boys to satisfy my urges . That is completely disgusting , to say men can't control their member is an idiotic argument . These people obviously entered the church to work their sickness and not because they ever intended to live accordingly . Alot of those men in prison that rape other men are also more than likely in prison because they raped somebody to begin with . Rape is really not about sex it's about degrading somebody . I've heard some psychologists put it that way .
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  Mary

  But then how do we explain why there seems to be such a large number of priests who are pedophiles, compared to other churches who allow their ministers to marry?
• 

  blondie

  You know, if the Catholic Church would let priests MARRY and have normal sexual relations, they probably wouldn't be in this predicament........

  Mary, unfortunately, this is not the problem. 3/4 of all pedophiles are married men. Marriage is not the solution. The sexual fixation of pedophiles is on children not adults. Pedophiles are found in every area of life, bank presidents, coaches, the grandfatherly retiree down the hall, scout leaders, teachers, ministers, doctors, lawyers, mechanics, etc., etc. What isn't highlighted is how many girls (and boys) are molested by nuns and priests. I work with my local SNAP organization and attended the national convention last year. It was very educational.

  Pedophiles try to get into a career or volunteer work that puts them close to children in a trusted position

  For those interested in the work of SNAP and the facts behind their fight with the Catholic Church and other religious sexual abuse.

  http://www.snapnetwork.org/