Report blames society for sexually abusive priests

Sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests in the United States is a “historical problem” that has largely been resolved and that never had any significant correlation with either celibacy or homosexuality, according to an independent report commissioned by Catholic bishops — and subjected to fierce attack even before its release on Wednesday.

The report blamed the sexual revolution for a rise in sexual abuse by priests, saying that Catholic clerics were swept up by a tide of “deviant” behavior that became more socially acceptable in the 1960s and ’70s.

As that subsided, and as the church instituted reforms in the 1990s and 2000s, the problem of priests acting as sexual predators sharply declined, according to the study by John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

CLICK HERE TO READ FULL STORY

Copyright 2012 Dominica News Online, DURAVISION INC. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.

Disclaimer: The comments posted do not necessarily reflect the views of DominicaNewsOnline.com and its parent company or any individual staff member. All comments are posted subject to approval by DominicaNewsOnline.com. We never censor based on political or ideological points of view, but we do try to maintain a sensible balance between free speech and responsible moderating.

We will delete comments that:

  • contain any material which violates or infringes the rights of any person, are defamatory or harassing or are purely ad hominem attacks
  • a reasonable person would consider abusive or profane
  • contain material which violates or encourages others to violate any applicable law
  • promote prejudice or prejudicial hatred of any kind
  • refer to people arrested or charged with a crime as though they had been found guilty
  • contain links to "chain letters", pornographic or obscene movies or graphic images
  • are off-topic and/or excessively long

See our full comment/user policy/agreement.

22 Comments

  1. July 26, 2013

    How can the moral breakdown in the Roman Catholic clergy be blamed on the sexual revolution of the 1060’s and 70’s? For decades before the 60’s and 70’s the church had a problem with priests getting involved with women in their communities. There was also scandal after scandal involving nuns having babies from priests in the convents. How some of these cases were covered up amounts to horror stories too frightening to talk about.

    We have a right to ask how priests could be caused to commit sexual sins by the sexual revolution in the 60’s and 70’s. Are they not supposed to be “in the world but not of the world”? Were they reading the literature, listening to the radio programs, and watching the movies that carried the broken values and immorality of the sexual revolution? Were they dating women who had been influenced by the revolution? How could the deviation taking place in the world among the low life of society destroy priests who were separated unto God, living lives of holiness, prayer, and dcedicated service? It’s an entirely different existance!

    It will be said that these men were corrupted before they became priests. No doubt some were. But you don’t get wet unless you are in the pool! Is this where the church is drawing its priests from?

    It does seem that the homosexual revolution has had a bearing on the number of “gay” priests in the Catholic Church. But it doesn’t seem reasonable that godly devoted young men who discern a vocation to the religious life would be living close enough to the “gay” world to be influenced by their revolution. Unreasonable or not, it is obvious that this is where many candidates for the priesthood are coming from.

    It is appalling how the bishops have blamed the sexual problems among their priests on a sexual revolution in society that should never have had any influence on the priests.

    To say that it has been “largely resolved” causes them to lose even more credibility.

    As never before we need to encourage people – both Protestants and Catholics – to read their Bibles. Make the choice between what religious leaders say and what the Word of God says. When the two contradict each other believe God! Go with the Holy Scriptures. Separate yourself from the devil’s lies. The very salvation of your soul depends on it!

    Sincerely, Rev. Donald Hill. Pentecostal Evangelist.

  2. CLAIRVOYANCE
    May 30, 2011

    If you drink water in excessive amounts it will have a negative effect, same goes for too little water, or to much alcohol, or lack of food or too much food…. all of these lead to adverse effects on the body and psyche of any human being…so makes them think that excessively refraining from sexual activity which is as natural as wanting water when thirsty, wont have adverse effects on them.. to me this is misleading…to be chast does not mean one cannot have sex! this is where the real problem is, one needs to swing with the laws in creation not go against them, whether the laws of physics or the laws of biology. god gave us divine laws to adhere to and as guidelines to a healthy body and spirit. we think we know better.

  3. just a suggestion
    May 30, 2011

    Why should it be relevant to know whether a Catholic priest is homosexual or not, to become a priest they take vows of celibacy, that means they must abstain regardless of their sexual orientation, so sex should not be an issue. Pedophiles are attracted to the Catholic religion as they are always looking for ways to carry on their perverted behaviour – the higher powers in the church have a long and bad history of covering for these perverts.

    The reason such incidences are on the decline (if this is true) is because their victims are offered support and are no longer afraid, they are being encouraged to believe they are the true victims and are encouraged to ‘tell’ of their experiences. As a result the law has now stepped in to deal with such allegations regardless of how long ago the abuses took place, not allowing the churches to deal with this themselves and brush it under the carpet – so this particular window of opportunity is slowly beginning to close for the pedophile. They are always looking for the next!!

  4. vip
    May 29, 2011

    This issue has nothing to do with religion.it has to do with one’s personal struggle and lack of self control.And the failure of the church to take drastic measures against such unbecoming behaviour.i would hate to believe that catholics are more incline to become pedophiles ,rapist,child molesters than baptist, pentecostals ,methodist and adventist.And these religions may be just as good or just as bad in hiding the sins of their leaders.Do you think the catholic priest should be trust around our little boys in the same way you entrust your little girls and boys in the hands of your pastor?

  5. Muslim_always
    May 29, 2011

    The root cause of these filthy paganic priests lies in their concept of god being an European man. Don’t you people see their pictures of god; a white man with long white beard http://www.infiniteunknown.net.

    When a man is studying to be a priest and he is bombarded with these images of naked men for 10 years, he cannot marry, he has sexual feelings, what do you expect? This priesthood is like a damn prison.

    These people have the audacity to blame the society for their filth. Aren’t they supposed to be the leaders of the society, to bring them from darkness to light? Catholic church refuses to take responsibility for their acts of pedophilia. Since, the children are part of the society, indirectly the children are blamed.

  6. The truth
    May 29, 2011

    Funny. I don’t see the Muslim hatting people making comments here.

    It is not religions that are bad my friends. It’s the evil people who use them to do bad things

    • More like The False
      May 29, 2011

      Ya sure, cuz it’s not like it’s the people that make the “religion” or church and it’s not like the doctrines were written by men for men either.

      and you mean hating……. not hat-ting

      • The truth
        May 31, 2011

        Seems that statement got to you hard. Thanks fir the spelling correction. Still, I support every authentic religion. They all lead to the same road. It is evil people who use then in the wrong way. And it is there in every religion. No matter how you sugar coat it or try to worm your way around it. It’s not a personal thing, it is simply the truth. Deal with it.

        • The truth
          May 31, 2011

          Oh and my typing errors are iPhone prone by the way. Help text

    • Big Bannan
      May 30, 2011

      Muslim, are you kidding me? it there any sense to your ideology?

  7. hmmm
    May 29, 2011

    Of course it’s societies fault! I mean after all its not like priests are supposed to be the moral fiber that holds a society together, this is a shame.

    If priests can do it, you figure out the rest……

  8. yute man
    May 29, 2011

    The persons that carried out that survey trying to convey a wrong impression on people minds. Is now them priest like to bu**er even more than before and the bishop that right that may be a big gay bishop it appears

  9. vacent
    May 28, 2011

    hmm.. excellent lesson on morality. Blame others for you faults especially when they give you really bad publicity.

  10. Big Bannan
    May 28, 2011

    That report is lame. There have been countless cases of priests molesting little boys in Canada, Belgium, UK, Germany, and Italy several other countries. Not just America. There are also reports that the church dispersed corrupted preists to Africa and the West Indies in an effort to cover up their nasty ways.

  11. Dr No
    May 28, 2011

    Completely unacceptable! Contrary to this, the clergy are supposed to be the mentors and moral whip of society. Does the report implicitly indicate that as society degenerates, so does the clergy? True, they are but human, but to be a man of the cloth also means to explicitly uphold spiritual and moral values, no matter the social trend/s of the time.

    • hmmm
      May 30, 2011

      well said No….. Oh by the way, you’re sound far too intelligent to refer to yourself as a doctor. Doctors are frauds, everyone knows they don’t heal you but prolong your illness until the next few visits.

      • hmmm
        May 30, 2011

        you*

  12. hardlinesleek
    May 28, 2011

    That is another teaching that Catholics teach that isn’t a Biblical truth.
    “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.Forbid marriage and the sexual abuse will continue and the hypocrisy and the deception will continue .May God have mercy on those who have corrupted what is called the word of God.

    • AmazingFace
      May 30, 2011

      @ hardlinesleek: I don’t agree. Forbidding priests to marry has nothing to do with those who molest children….once a person has their bad ways, they have it already…marriage cannot and will not change that.

  13. Interesting..
    May 28, 2011

    This is absolutely ridiculous. How complex is the notion of priests or any religious figurehead abusing children or vulnerable persons? One should go into a life of faith and servitude with the preparation and the understanding that there will be temptations that will be manifested like never before. This article attempts to lift the blame off religious authority and place it on the deviant habits that these very leaders have committed their lives to preaching and standing against. To put it mildly, this report is a middle finger and an affront to the thousands of victims who’ve being abused by persons in power.

  14. tiny
    May 28, 2011

    yes society is too blame ………….my God ………reading some of the comments n here…………these are sane people??????????????//talking about abusing a child…………..how they would give a child blows until…………and they get the most likes……………….these people are boasting about child abuse. most of the priest were probably abused by their parents……….

    the rest of the crazies on here are supporting defending their husbands/boy friends for having an affair while they are mad at the woman his having an affair with……………these people are just plain crazy…………….no other way to describe it.

  15. Cerberus
    May 28, 2011

    This report is an embarrassment and an affront for all right thinking catholics. We are personally responsible for our deeds and for the church hierarchy to try and blame its misdeeds on “society” is not only pathetically wrong but will further whittle away at the little respect that they have left.

Post a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

:) :-D :wink: :( 8-O :lol: :-| :cry: 8) :-? :-P :-x :?: :oops: :twisted: :mrgreen: more »

 characters available