|
The Nature of the Problem
By Kevin O'brien
Pope Francis has recently stated that he's been informed that 2% of Catholic clergy - 1 in 50 - are pedophiles.
But the number is certainly higher than that. “U.S. bishops have reported receiving allegations of abuse by 6,427 priests in 1950-2013, or 5.9% of the 109,694 U.S. priests active 1950-2002, according to the John Jay report. Including the 5,356 priests ordained since 2002 brings the total to 115,050, of whom 5.6% have been accused of abuse,” according to BishopAccountability.org.I have elsewhere read parts of the John Jay Report that indicate a figure closer to 4%. There is apparently no telling how these rates compare with the prevalence of pedophiles in the general population, as that number is not known, though Time Magazine says ... Dr. John Bradford, a University of Ottawa psychiatrist who has spent 23 years studying pedophilia--which is listed as an illness in the manual psychiatrists use to make diagnoses--estimates its prevalence at maybe 4% of the population. (Those attracted to teenagers are sometimes said to suffer "ephebophilia," but perhaps because so many youth-obsessed Americans would qualify, psychiatrists don't classify ephebophilia as an illness.) The point, however, is not the statistical presence of pedophiles among Catholic clergy. As SNAP points out ... There have always been, and will always be, predators in the priesthood. Decreasing their numbers will be harder to do. There needn't be, however, “enablers” in the church hierarchy. Decreasing their numbers could not be more easier. They should be fired, period. And fired now, not years from now when the latest in a seemingly-endless string of church abuse panels proposes some superfluous protocols. And dozens of them must be fired, not one or two scapegoats.It is, sadly, hard to imagine that happening.
|
.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.