A CO disscussing a child molestation case with me in my congregation mentioned that every congregation has at least one and some two in our circuit. Of these, he was relieved, none had been made public. That's 18-20 in our circuit alone.
Following this average, how many exist in the USA alone? Hard to say, but it would be signifigant and would probably destroy the WTS as we know it, if it ever became public.
What's really bad about keeping this quiet, so as not to bring about 'reproach on JG's organization' a convenient euphanism, is that many of these child molesters are going unchecked and probably are abusing others.
As an example, in the congregation next to mine, an Elder woke up one day with a visualization that he was molested as a child. He feared his sister, a Special Pioneer was molested by their father, a long time Elder. He called her and she confirmed she was as well.
They decided to bring this to the Elders attention who inturn admonished them to go to the father and confront him. They didn't want to, but at the insistance of the Elders, they went with two Elders. He at first denied the charges vehemently, but the mother confessed she had witnessed it.
The result? He was removed and DF'd. No one in the congregation knew why he was DF'd. But it was also decided not to go to the authorities, because they felt that was all there was. But how do they know he didn't molest others? How could you trust him? And how were they protecting others in the future? They didn't
The one in my congregation was completely unkown to everyone except the Elders.
That is not a confidential matter, that is a cover up. If all of these became public, on a registered list, the JW Kingdom Halls would be lit up like a Billboard. No one would attend, no one would study with them, no one would contribute, and everyone who was 'encouraged to keep quiet' would sue the WTS.
