Report on the Crisis in the Catholic Church

Th National Review Board for the Protection of Children and Young People ^ | 2004 | National Review Board

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

A Report on the Crisis in the Catholic Church in the United States

The National Review Board for the Protection of Children and Young People

http://www.catholicreviewboard.com/nrb/nrbstudy/nrbreport.pdf

What is the nature of the current crisis?

Narrowly defined, the nature of the crisis is twofold: It consists both of the sexual abuse of minors by clergy and the failure of many Church leaders to respond appropriately to that abuse. But the crisis also has a spiritual dimension, for, as is the case with all sinful conduct, it represents a failure to comport with divine law and the teachings of the Church. Unless all aspects of the crisis are addressed forthrightly, any steps to remedy it will bear only the patina of reform and renewal.

Why did so many priests sexually abuse minors?

Although it is not possible to pinpoint any one "cause" of the problem of sexual abuse of minors by priests, there were two overarching contributing factors:

- Dioceses and orders did not screen candidates for the priesthood properly. As a result, many sexually dysfunctional and immature men were admitted into seminaries and later ordained into the priesthood.

- Seminaries did not form candidates for the priesthood adequately. As a result, seminarians were not prepared for the challenges of the priesthood, particularly the challenge of living a chaste, celibate life.

In addition, although neither the presence of  homosexually-oriented priests nor the discipline of celibacy caused the crisis, an understanding of the crisis is not possible without reference to these issues. There are, no doubt, many outstanding priests of a homosexual orientation who live chaste, celibate lives, but any evaluation of the cause and context of the current crisis must be cognizant of the fact that more than eight percent of the abuse at issue was of a homosexual nature.

Full text of article: http://www.catholicreviewboard.com/nrb/nrbstudy/nrbreport.pdf

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The Review Board's report.

EWTN's discussion of the issues relating to this is worth checking out when it airs next.

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EWTN TOWN HALL MEETING
CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY, WASHINGTON, D.C.
NATIONAL REVIEW BOARD FINDINGS (ENCORE)

Sunday March 14
4:30-6:00pm

http://www.ewtn.com/tv/Mar14_Mar20.htm

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That should have been:

80%

[Desdemona]

Just a warning to people trying to see the original - it's 135 pages through Adobe.

[NYer]

Watched the re-air last night. Fr. Neuhaus and George Weigel did an excellent commentary on the situation. Bottom line, as Raymond Arroyo pointed out, is that Bishop Gregory views the report as 'case closed'. It's not. The Springfield MA bishop will be going to trial and there are 'fellow' bishops who are still being investigated.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

"but any evaluation of the cause and context of the current crisis must be cognizant of the fact that more than eighty percent of the abuse at issue was of a homosexual nature."

Neuhaus and Weigel were good. As was Dr. McHugh. It should be interesting to see how the report continues to be received by the bishops in particular.

[Diago]

http://bettnet.dyndns.org/blog/images/uploads/johnjaymalefemaleratio.jpg

Breakdown of abuse allegations by Catholic World News

And of course, Bishop Pilla and the Diocese of Cleveland is Proud of these numbers:

http://www.dioceseofcleveland.org/gayandlesbianfamilyministry/images/glfmlogo.gif

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

The wording of the text seems a little odd. As is often the case with documents prepared by committees observing political coniderations.

[sinkspur]

pi$$-running-down-the-leg fear

It must be the long nails.