Looking behind the Catholic sex abuse scandal

BBC ^ | May 4, 2010 | Aidan Lewis

[Campion]

In recent months allegations and admissions of child abuse by priests have shaken the Roman Catholic Church to its core, as a continuous stream of cases has surfaced across Western Europe and beyond.

The Vatican has defended itself by suggesting this is a problem that affects society as a whole, and that the Church has now taken steps to deal with it - an approach that has often provoked more anger and frustration among critics who believe it systematically covered up many cases.

With allegations still surfacing, there is no conclusive account of the extent of Catholic abuse worldwide or its causes.

But current research and expert opinion suggest that men within the Catholic Church may be no more likely than others to abuse, and that the prevalence of abuse by priests has fallen sharply in the last 20-30 years.

What has made the crisis stand out are the cover-ups and other alleged shortcomings in the way abuse was dealt with.

"The real problem is an abuse of authority, the duty of care that pastors have to their flocks," says the British historian, and former member of the Jesuit Catholic order, Michael Walsh.

"This has been abused and that is the greatest scandal - that's what is systemic, rather than sex abuse."

[Campion]

TSgt says that the EWTN discussion of this article is "biased," so here's the original.

[Campion]

Here’s the original article.

[Kanrok]

Shocking that this wasn’t on the front page of the New York Times.

[Campion]

LOL!

[Juana la Loca]

Catholic ping!

[John O]

There is no Catholic sex scandal. There is (or rather was) a homosexual sex scandal within the Catholic priesthood.

[markomalley]

Everybody knows the Bbc is in the pocket of the Vatican.

/sarc

[ALPAPilot]

while research shows that most US victims were teenage boys, that is thought to be because this was the group to which priests had most access. "The vast majority of child abuse [against] both male and female is carried out by men who are heterosexual, and many of whom are married," notes Ms Smith.

So most of the sexual abuse of teenage boys is carried out by heterosexual males??????????

[Tax-chick]

Sure, because you know priests don’t ever meet any adult women, so even if they were straight, they’d have to do teenage boys. (/s)

[Campion]

No, that sentence is talking about sexual abuse in general. Most of the abuse by priests (at least in the US) was against teenage boys.

[Brian Kopp DPM]

Exposed: Christian leader caught with male escort says he needed help with his luggage

A Christian leader and prominent neuro-psychiatrist who co-founded the Family Research Council with evangelist James Dobson took a ten-day European vacation with a callboy he met through RentBoy.com and was caught in an airport with the escort by a Miami newspaper.

Gee, if only they had been allowed to marry...

[SaintDismas]

They just can’t wrap their heads around the fact that this abuse of teenage BOYS by priests is a homosexual predator problem. They will twist like pretzels to sweep this FACT under the rug. Astonishing isn’t it?

The way this statement that you’ve highlighted reads by the moron Ms. Smith is that these “priests” are one big throbbing purple ready to do whatever to anybody, anything.

I hate to be so explicit, but c’mon you BBCers, say what the hell you mean. On second thought, they know what they want to say, they know what the hell is going on, they are the ones trying to cover up the truth.

[massgopguy]

Easter is over as far as the NYT is concerned. So what’s the point of trying to destroy the church. See you in December NYT.

[count-your-change]

Sounds like there’s a run on hand washing basins.

[Oratam]

Sure, because you know priests don’t ever meet any adult women, so even if they were straight, they’d have to do teenage boys. (/s)

In another age (not that long ago) the suspicion was the parish priest was busy with the women in his care while the men were away at work or in the fields. You know, the women always rushing off to early morning mass, confession, novenas, etc., etc. The men folk might think something was up. Oh, simpler times.

[VidMihi]

John O is correct. There is no Catholic sex scandal. There is (or rather was) a homosexual sex scandal within the Catholic priesthood. Let’s all learn a new word - ephebophilia — sex with post-pubescent young people, almost always males — priests are rarely guilty of pedophilia except in the subset - pedophilia - Which may point to a dominant “gay subculture“ in the celibate Catholic Priesthood, which just might be a good argument for the return to active ministry of heterosexual married priests.

Would there were more practical discussion on how to begin the solution of the "gay clergy" problem.

[Tax-chick]

There have been a few reports in recent years about priests and adult women, but they don’t make the national news. It’s not illegal, and there’s not much opportunity for hugh payoffs.

[ALPAPilot]

No, that sentence is talking about sexual abuse in general. Most of the abuse by priests (at least in the US) was against teenage boys

No that sentence is trying to hide the link to homosexuality. BY DEFINITION there is no heterosexual male who abuses teenage boys. Further, there are no female priests.

[ArrogantBustard]

Let’s all learn a new word - ephebophilia

We could ... or we could just call it faggotry.

[Salvation]

**the prevalence of abuse by priests has fallen sharply in the last 20-30 years.**

I agree.