***Now by comparison, every study I’ve been shown of “Protestant” abuse included volunteers and laypersons, something the John Jay Study did not cover among Catholic parishes; if we exclude them from the “Protestant” studies (to create a “pastor vs priest” apple-to-apple comparison), we arrive at a roughly 1% abuse rate for all “Protestant” pastors, or (in other words) at least a four times greater likelihood that any given Catholic priest will be a sexual predator as compared to any given “Protestant” pastor. ***
With true apples to apples, we need to include all those individuals that are ordained or otherwise commissioned into a position of authority with the church.
***Some independent churches have statistics that are far, far higher than the Catholic average of 4%. But we’re not the ones who consider them “Protestant” - it’s Catholics that insist on applying that label to them.***
I agree that individual churches have individual abuse rates. I find that interesting regarding the relative level of ‘free will’. I had always thought that the stricter and more insular the sect, the greater the child abuse is likely to be, but I hadn’t considered free will as a contributor. I’d like to look further.
Oh. The Protestants are self identified. They are the ones who split from the Catholic Church, and then began the furious process of further splitting. Where are the roots? If they are in the Protestant Reformation, then the sects are Protestants.
History shows the RCC didn’t arise until the 4th century and tried mightily to subdue all churches to her doctrine. But she was unable to do so and, along the way, adopted doctrines started by those she considered heretics (such as the supposed sinlessness of Mary) because such helped the RCC control ignorant and superstitious people.
I say that simply to set up this: it’s not accurate to say the reformed churches split off from the RCC, for the church founded by Christ on Christ with the Apostles was not the RCC - but church on grace rather than works. The name “reformed” indeed arose in response to the RCC, but many of the people of the reform movement never submitted to the rule of the popes.