Sex Abuse And The Catholic Church

“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.

This article interests me because they are eager to respond in this kind of situation by suspending the priest, whose mistake only is to used the product of modern technology as a way of reaching his young parishioners during mass, while the diocese authorities never suspend priests who keep molesting children.

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.

In the church, the pastor or preacher has an innate responsibility to address sin and nominalism without hesitation or fear of retribution. The church’s focus on mere building membership, no matter the cost, overshadows God’s abhorrence of sin. Further, both sin and nominalism seems to have intensified as many point to the religious concept of being a Christian without having a changed heart or life through Jesus Christ. Charles Spurgeon shares, “There will always be trouble in the churches as long as men are afraid to denounce sin and error. To confront sin, it is without doubt a pastor’s responsibility to challenge the sins of this present time.

In Genesis 34 there is the story of Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, who was defiled by an infatuated prince named Shechem. He raped Dinah and then asked for her brothers to give her to him as a wife. Instead of accepting what had happened, Dinah’s brothers responded by slaughtering every male in the Shechem’s city, plundering their household, and capturing the women and children (Holman Christian Standard Bible, Gen. 34.1-29). This outraged response ought to spark the realization that defiling a person against their will should not be practiced among believers. Sadly, in January 2010, one pastor at a Newcastle church openly admitted to raping six young boys between the ages of nine and twelve when he held “counseling sessions” for the children (Peters 1). These heinous crimes were repeated copiously and his abuse of power clearly destroyed young lives that could possibly be forever traumatized. Obviously when a preacher affiliates himself with corrupt offenses it earns a front-cover page, but some of these sinful deeds are still kept under wrap. This suggests duplicity could very well be found on all levels: from ordinary church-goers to prominent leaders in the church.

Why is the Catholic Church so corrupt in its teaching? They have found ways to control the knowledge that their followers contemplate on. The control of knowledge and power is the foundation for every successful religious organization. The Catholic Church have acquired this power through strategic control on the mind of its follower. The Catholic Church propagate their ideals as righteous in order to be accepted; for without this acceptance, they are faced with the task of initiating this power through force. So to beguile their followers, they present themselves in “sheep clothing” (KJV, Matt 7:15). They are accepted as blameless, peaceful, loving and harmless but in actuality, “they are ravening wolves” (KJV, Matt. 7:15).

The Roman Catholic Women Priests movement began in 2002 in Germany when seven women were ordained as priests by a male bishop. This was done as an act of defiance against the Vatican. The ordinations are held in non- Catholic churches, without the recognition of the Church. The Vatican’s are strictly against this movement and believe that women who are ordained must be excommunicated from everyone. According to the Vatican, the ordination of a woman to priesthood is without sacramental effect. The women are forbidden from receiving the church’s sacraments or participating in the liturgy.

There are no accurate figures available on the number of Catholic sexual abuse cases internationally, but the US is the country with the highest number of reported cases. Sex abuse allegations corresponding to approximately 3000 priests dating back fifty years were investigated by the central governing body of the Catholic Church the Holy See from 2001 to 2010 (Lewis, 2010). Worldwide cases expose long-term abuse and of which the church hierarchy regularly cover up reports of alleged abuse. Diocesan officials say that sexual abuse by clergy is generally not discussed and thus is difficult to measure (Paulson,

There is an unethical epidemic called sexual misconduct, which has taken over many organizations. For years certain sexual behaviors were not fully understood; therefore, victims were left with no other recourse, but to deal with the emotional and physical distress associated with sexual misconduct. The church has always been viewed as a place of safety, refuge, healing, and strength for each individual and family within its membership. However, many church members or leaders never understood the dynamics of misconduct within the congregation.

The Catholic Church has been involved with many allegations of child abuse and molestation. The incidents aren’t contained to a specific church or country, the abuse has been reported globally. As the years go by an increasing number of people continue to come forward to report allegations of sexual abuse, it is unclear exactly how many people have been abused over the years. It wasn’t until 1985 that there became public awareness about the sexual abuse cases, the case of a Louisiana priest named, Gilbert Gauthe, who plead guilty to the molestation of eleven young boys is what sounded the alarm publicly (Associated Press, 2002). Thus, there are many questions surrounding the history of the abuse including, why, who, for how long, and is being

Throughout the 20th Century, thousands of reports about Catholic priests and bishops sexually abusing children have been and are continuing to surface into the media. These reports have been dealt with internally by the church rather than civil authorities. In addition, the church has also been covering up many of the reports, paying over two billion dollars to prevent the scandal from being “leaked” into the public. A letter from the Vatican written in 1997 expressed “serious reservations” about reporting priests that were suspected of sexual abuse. The church has been hiding reports and avoiding suspicion by not acting guilty. Instead of bringing the issue public they have instead launched a three year investigation of U.S. women religious congregations which cost over three million. The Vatican leadership also ordered a doctrinal evaluation of the U.S. women religious leadership’s central network, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. Furthermore, bishops have issued press releases as well as reports and studies. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops published two reports on February 27, 2004. The first report written by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice included the data and statistics of the sexual abuse reports while the second report written by the National Review Board talks about the cause and effect of the problem. In addition the USCCB has also enacted the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young

487) , it is "important to recognize that we" are "discussing sexuality and religion in the context of Western culture. In Christian Perspective on Sexuality and Gender (Stuart and Thatcher 1996), Stayton describes the ways in which American culture has created barriers to healthy sexual functioning and pleasure. The first barrier he identifies stems from the fact that our culture is sexually traumatized, "bombarded daily by a type of unnatural sexuality which is highly commercialized, exploited, and presents women as objects" (Stuart and Thatcher 1996, p. 342). Identifies the second barrier by describing the culture as one that "values sexual ignorance," and the third by noting how "sexually secretive" we are, with sex as a great mystery. He describes the sexual message that "the more mysterious [sex] is, the more healthy and pleasurable it will be when marriage occurs" (Stuart and Thatcher 1996, p. 343). These barriers preclude our knowledge of ourselves, our ability to grow as sexually healthy individuals, and prevent us from seeking true wholeness -- integrated in mind, body and spirit. As Steve Mallon (2002) writes in Developing a Positive Sexuality Education in the Churches, "sexuality and shame have long been easy bedfellows before the events that lead to what we understand as "The Fall" it seems that humanity was at peace with

Sex Education in Medieval Christianity attempts to get into the reasoning behind the Catholic Churches stance on sex during the Medieval period. Vern Bullough constructs the complex nature of the attitude toward sex during this time through his selected primary sources. He then sets out to explain the how the Church dealt with sex, and how it conveyed its message to an often uneducated population. His writing contributes a great insight into the mindset of the people at the time.

The Catholic Church is unique in comparison to Protestant branches of Christianity because of the tradition, formality, and leadership. Leaders in the Catholic church such as Priests, Nuns, Bishops and Popes vow to remain celibate and follow a marriage with God and the Church rather than a spouse. It is interesting to discover whether celibacy has any impact on one’s psychosexual development and on an individual’s efficiency as a church leader.