Posted on 11/16/2006 9:54:57 AM PST by presidio9
The US Roman Catholic Church has asked a criminology school to delve into the darkest pages of its history by probing the causes of a priest sex abuse scandal.
At a meeting due to end Thursday in the eastern city of Baltimore, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops voted to disburse 335,000 dollars to fund the first three phases of a study by New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
"It will be a groundbreaking study, never done before in the US, nor in the world," Bishop Gregory Aymond, who chairs the Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People, told AFP.
"We don't know what would come out of it, but we are going to tell the truth," said Aymond, of Austin, Texas.
In 2002, the John Jay College of Criminal Justice had made a list of complaints and pedophilia cases in the US Catholic Church since 1985, when one of the first scandals came to light with the case of a Louisiana priest.
The university will now look into the "social and historical context" of sex abuse to see if such cases are more frequent in the Church than in the rest of society, notably in schools and youth clubs, Aymond said.
The Church wants to "look at what is unique" in the priest sex abuse crisis, he said.
The first part of the study would be completed in 2008 and made public, although the names of suspected priests would be omitted.
In the second part, the university will evaluate the Church leadership's response to sex abuse cases.
"We want to see where we failed and made some mistakes, and learn from those who handled it well," Aymond said.
The study will also paint a psychological profile of pedophiliac priests by reviewing cases in treatment centers.
The review will aim to show "to what extent is a priest sexual abuser profile the same as the psychological profile of the non-priests who are sex offenders," Aymond said.
The university will also interview abuse victims and examine education at seminaries over the decades.
The majority of priests accused of sex abuse were trained in the 1960s and 1970s in seminaries where psychological tests and sexuality education have since been introduced.
A final phase of the study will make proposals on how to prevent sex abuse and help victims.
"Our goal is to ascertain the causes of the clergy sexual abuse crisis and if we need to change any method we have now," said Teresa Kettlekamp, the executive director of the bishops conference's Office of Child and Youth Protection, which was created in 2002, in the wake of the sex abuse scandal.
But the study would also be useful to schools and youth groups, Church officials said.
"The pathology of abusing children isn't unique; it's a societal problem," Kettlekamp said.
"We are hoping it will be a big, big help to the society in general," she said.
Rose caught a fair amount of flak from some of the people he describes, who said they were unfairly characterized, but I tend to think he mostly got it right.
The good news is that his book is a few years old, and some of the worst stuff he describes has been cleaned up, AFAIK.
I'm quite sure that SSA has always existed. I'm also quite sure that a respectable occupation with lifetime security which relieved men from the "why aren't you married" question has ALWAYS been overpopulated by those burdened with SSA.
The difference, now, is that several generations of men with SSA have been conditioned to affirm the proposition, "This is who I AM", as opposed to "This is what I am tempted to DO".
Men who affirm the former proposition cannot function honestly as RC priests, but since a lot of them are in that line of work, enormous problems have been engendered.
My understanding of the CCC is that it still affirms the "this is what I am tempted to DO" analysis of SSA, but the USCCB bishops are constantly flirting with the "this is who (I) they ARE" model.
As long as there are significant numbers of bishops and priests who (secretly) affirm an heretical view of human sexuality, this problem cannot be resolved.
The "modern" view of SSA, in an ecclesial context, is actually an organized, major heresy. Like all the other Christian heresies, the belief in this key "knowledge" looms larger and larger in the minds of its proponents until it becomes central to their being.
And, like all the other major Christian heresies, it is going to have to be extirpated from the Body of Christ before the Body can return to health.
Celibacy means NO SEX AT ALL.
Those who are paracticing homosexuals are not celibate.
Why is that so difficult to understand?
Someone I believe asked for a reasoned argument.
That is the most childish circular reasoning I have heard in a long time.
Eliminate celibacy, not devise a way to keep out the criminally inclined...
Brilliant!
Reminds me of the educational establishment: if not enough students become competent under their care, redefine "competency" down!
Can we say "Keep the fags out" on FR or not?
Exactly. Pretty simple really, stop letting poofs become priests.
Hey, no fair, you can't get the right answer on the first post!
The church however has had over 1,000 years of this "problem".
Yep, thats it. Great book. Should be required reading.
Reason: Homosexuality.
Ya know ... those Village People songs, "In the Navy", "YMCA" and the like. They shoulda had one that was "In the Seminary".
I see your thinking, but might we be confusing cause and effect?
this is missing the boat, and the entire fleet.....
homosexual men and pedophiles in general seek out cultures where they will be near their prey....
that's why you find them in schools, boys' clubs, boy scouts, youth groups, etc...
they seek the normalcy and socially acceptance that goes along with such groups....
religon, community service,teaching....all "good" and therefore above reproach....
once they're "in" they can take advantage of the situation...
You spelled "HOMOSEXUALITY" wrong.
BTW, I once met Ted Sturgeon. He lived in an old house in the hills behind Dodger Stadium.
Translation: the closted homosexuals of the US Catholic church are trying to BUY a study which says homosexuals who attack boys are not performing a homosexual attack.
Um........... I guess ordinance of priests who may marry at some point is out of order here?
A family life could perhaps be more important to a young man - even a religiously devoted young man - than living a life of abstinence. The thought of family life, a loving wife and an adoring group of children may attract those who practice normalcy in life and in sexual matters.
I believe abstinence may offer isolation and safety those who are impaired regarding normal family life - a teaching they are expected to impress among congregants - when they themselves are denied it.
Ya think?
Please submit invoice.
E-X-A-C-T-L-Y!... The "old switcheroo!"
Don't forget that we are all too STUPID to see thought their moves.... :)
What a dumb question! Of course you cannot say, "Keep fags out" on this site. That is hate speech of the very worst sort.
In fact, I dare say "Keep the Fags out," reveals a deep-seated homophobic gender binary fixation.
If you say "Keep the Fags out," one or two more times, that's it for you, homophobe. I am going to the Moderator.
"Keep the Fags out," indeed.
You are looking at the negative side of celibacy. The positive side is what the Lord often calls for, which is to drop the plow, drop the fishing, and following him.
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