By Michael F. Flach
Herald Editor
(From the issue of 6/27/02)
From July 2000 through June 2001 in Virginia, 39,507 children (or 108 per day) were reported as possible victims of abuse. After reviewing the facts, state and county officials classified nearly 9,000 children (25 per day) as victims.
During the current crisis, the media has often portrayed the current wave of child abuse as a "Catholic problem." As you can tell by the numbers, child abuse, unfortunately, is much more prevalent across every level of society than we can imagine.
Catholicvote.org recently compiled some statistics regarding child abuse and the Catholic priesthood.
There were 75 members of the clergy convicted of sexual offenses between 1985-2000. Thirty-eight (50 percent) were Catholic priests.
According to the Christian Science Monitor, non-Catholic churches are reporting an average of 70 incidents a week to their insurance companies.
There were 236,000 people in jail for sexual offenses in 2000 (38 of them were Catholic priests). The largest group offenders are relatives of the children. Most attacks occur in the victim’s home between the hours of 3-7 p.m.
Since 1960 there have been over 140,000 men ordained for the priesthood or professed as religious brothers. Currently, there are 46,075 priests in the U.S. So far this year, 250 priests have been charged with an offense. Some cases reach as far back as 45 years ago. Mathematically, then, more than 99.5 percent of the priesthood remains untainted by this scandal.
"We do a great disservice to the 45,800 priest when we stereotype them as homosexuals," said Larry Cirignano, president of Catholicvote.org. "There is no evidence that there are more (or fewer) homosexuals than the general population in the priesthood.
"It’s good that the Catholic Church should be held to a higher standard of scrutiny," he added. "One victim is one too many and we ought to do everything possible for them. But we ought not compound the problem by attacking the Church and the clergy by stereotyping them." — M.F.F.
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Subscribers who wish to read for themselves the complete documentation from the recent U.S. bishops’ meeting in Dallas can find it in the June 27 edition of Origins (CNS Documentary Service). It contains the "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People" and the "Essential Norms for Diocesan/Eparchial Policies Dealing With Allegations of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Priests, Deacons or Other Church Personnel" (norms awaiting Vatican recognition) approved by the U.S. bishops during their June meeting in Dallas.
This edition also contains all the major addresses presented to the bishops in Dallas: the presidential address by Bishop Wilton Gregory, the addresses by victims of sexual abuse and by a psychologist working in the field of child sexual abuse, and the addresses by Margaret O'Brien Steinfels and Scott Appleby.
A single copy of this 32-page Origins edition may be ordered, prepaid, at $5 (multiple-copy rates available on request). To place an order, call Origins at 202/541-3290 or write Origins at 3211 Fourth St. N.E., Washington, D.C. 20017-1100. Origins also may be reached by e-mail at cns@catholicnews.com or by fax at (202) 541-3255.
All the texts in this Origins edition -- as well as in six years of past editions of Origins -- also are available at the Origins Web site, www.originsonline.com, where texts may be downloaded individually for a very small charge.
Copyright ©2002 Arlington Catholic Herald. All rights reserved.
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