Clergy Sexual Abuse Cases

“In the 60s, the Catholic Church in Massachusetts began hearing complaints that Father James Porter was sexually molesting children. Rather than relieving him of his duties, the ecclesiastical authorities simply moved him from one parish to another between 1960 and 1967, actually providing him with a fresh supply of unsuspecting families and innocent children to abuse” (Ericsson 162).

In over a period of years, an increasing amount of attention has been shed to the problem of child sexual abuse in the church. While churches, and other facilities which care for children, have had their experience of this problem, most attention has been brought to the abuse in the Catholic Church. Around the world, case after case has been seen in the press of clergy and members of religious orders being charged with sex offenses against children. Some of these cases go back decades. The issue has certainly brought attention around the world. The reason why, is the question that ponders in everyone mind.

I have been in a country where this kind of sexual abuse, like sexually assaulting a child, is being kept away from media. Some authorities will not make any legal actions regarding this, instead, they will do their best to cover this up to protect the wrongdoers. In fact, there was a situation where “priests with pending court cases were acquitted and even quietly reinstated to pastoral duties.”

In 2011 the initial shock of the media and reports of the Sandusky scandal uncovering years of victims and allegations, left spectators in disbelief. The idea that this type of abuse went undetected from 1994 to 2009 seemed preposterous. The fact of the matter is that Sandusky was enabled to continue his abuse through high ranking school officials sweeping Sandusky’s behavior under the rug (Chappell, 2012).

The statistics of prevalence for child sex abuse varies because of all the unique cases of child sex abuse that is reported. Although, statistic show that one in three girls will be sexually abused at one point in the United States and boys are one in seven to be sexually abused (Anderson, 2014). Children are not susceptible to crime as shown in the statistics because predators like pedophiles have fetishes towards little boy or girls. One study found that 10% of children experienced or came close to experiencing a form of sexual violence which would include rape, sexual assault, or harassment (Anderson, 2014). The numbers shown in the statistics are higher because of the unreported cases. 30% of cases involving child sex abuse are reported to the local authorities and 73% to 87% of female adolescents who are abused sexually are not treated or identified by by the community (Anderson, 2014). Child sex abuse is also costly because it costs the United States an estimated $103 billion for the abuse and negligence (Anderson, 2014). On another note, 80% of children who have been sexually abused have symptoms of PTSD (Anderson, 2014).

Surely humanity suffers when the function of sex corrupts by representing it as a service or commodity and religion corrupts when it is a matter of dry rituals or abstract doctrines; consequently, underscoring the situation with confusing sex scandals. As a result, sexual misconduct is a major issue in the churches today. Child molestation within the churches reeks of priests being caught-up in lust and unmistakably is a real sign that the brotherhood lacks guidance of the profound reality of the LORD’S sexual identity. Notably, in these past several decades, an enormous amount of priests, along with various other ‘proclaimed’ Christians, predominantly waver with uncertainty, puzzled why they have sexual desires and totally unaware of their Divine sexual heritage. Concurrently, just as the Catholic Church, the Protestant Church also suffers from sex scandals worldwide. Figures released to the Associated Press in 2007, reveals that the numbers of these sex abuse cases appear higher in the Protestant Church than in the Catholic Church. At any rate, the process in obtaining Protestant sex abuse statistics evolves as harder to come by and sketchier because the denominations happen to be less centralized than the Catholic Church. Various Protestant congregations occur independently, making reporting even more difficult.

The Boston Catholic Church’s dangerous employment of power prevented justice and instead allowed for the growth in number of churches and children that were exposed to the sexually abusive priests through the concealment of the abuse.

Michael Rezendes worked for the “Boston Globe” on the Spotlight team, which was small team of people who worked for months on a specific project to make a massive headline on the cover of the “Globe” about every other month. In 2001, Rezendes was working on a small story, one with some potential, alongside his team when they discovered a massive controversy hidden in the dusty files of law offices, parishes, and their own newspaper- the veiled crimes of the assaults on children by local Catholic priests, after which the priests were never convicted.

This case is a very sensitive situation since it pertains to a pastor in the Christian Church. I chose this particular case since I am also an active member in the Christian community. This pastor who had been accused of having sexual relations with four women in his congregation was convicted of four counts of sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist and one count of a pattern or practice to engage in sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist (STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Patrick EDOUARD, Appellant. No. 12-1899).

The Penn State child sex abuse case involves many legal, ethical, and moral complications. The participants in this case include Jerry Sandusky, former defensive coordinator, Joe Paterno, former head coach, Graham Spanier, former Penn State President, Tim Curley, former athletic director, other witnesses, informants, and victims. Jerry Sandusky was arrested on charges that he abused and molested boys he met through his charity, The Second Mile. Sandusky used his access to Penn State and connection to the misguided youth of his organization to prey on and eventually rape young boys. Sandusky was charged with 52 counts of child molestation and sentenced to 30-60 years in prison. Other parties involved were charged with perjury, failure to

Their coverage revelaed that Chicago was not exempt from these allegations. One priest, the Rev. William J. Cloutier, who was accused of abusing and threatening a 13 year old boy in Cook county quickly resigned before he was put up on trial. The victim who reamined ananoymous throught the preceeding of the trial was eventually silenced by a private plea, and ex Rev. William J. Cloutier was never senteced to any jail time. However, in other similar cases victims were not willing to take a plea and revecied some form of justice, like in the case of Rev. Norbert J. who was incarcerated after it was found that he was abusing children in various parishes around Chicago’s Southwest Side and suburbs.Recently Thousands of documents from the personnel files of the Archdiocese of Chicago were released and exposed the history of abuse by priests and responses from bishops. In each case, the priests were deceased or were ousted from ministry, and in most cases, the allegations were never proved in a criminal court. but what I would like to research is how victims were able to come forth and take a stand from an organization that wanted them to keep quiet ? And how the church tried to cover up the allegations as well as how they tried to cut deals with accused priests and bishops? All of this research will help my overall goal of seeing how victims were able to take a stand and how the Church’s power in Chicago was effected by

To inform my audience about the intense emotional secrecy resulting from childhood sexual abuse, and to persuade them that as teachers of God’s word they should be prepared to expect the unexpected while providing non-judgmental support and guidance to the victims working through issues of trust, intimacy and identity while seeking a personal relationship with Christ.

According to the University of Northern Iowa, “there have been cases involving well over 3,000 priest” (Wormer). In Paul Cultura’s case the priest was able to neutralize his wrong doing and continue working in the Catholic church until his

John Jay College Research Team. (2004). The nature and scope of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests and deacons in the United States, 1950-2002. Washington, DC: United States Confer-ence of Catholic Bishops.

There are many forms of child abuse. Not only can children be physically abused, but they are also in danger of experiencing sexual abuse. In the more recent years, child sexual abuse has come to the attention of a larger part of society. As such, it is becoming more openly discussed. Child sexual abuse is a growing problem, and the stories that have begun to circulate around the world work to illustrate just how serious the problem is. Despite what society is lead to believe, the sexual abuse of a child is the least common out of all forms of child abuse. Out of the different types of child abuse, neglect is the most common, followed by physical abuse, and then sexual abuse comes at the bottom. Still, of all the cases of child abuse reported to and substantiated by authorities, approximately 15% of them concerned sexual abuse. ). It is possible that there are more cases of child sexual abuse, however, and they simply are not being reported. Due to the number of undisclosed cases of child abuse, researchers have conducted various prevalence studies over the years to determine the true number of sexual abuse of children. These studies have determined that around 20% of women and 5-10% of men in America in were sexually abused as children. A great deal of controversy surrounds the number of male victims of child sexual abuse, due to a lack of quality studies. The problem with prevalence studies is that they don 't all share the same definition of abuse, nor do they share