UNITED STATES
Fr. Ted’s Blog
Posted on October 23, 2012 by Fr. Ted
Stories of how the Boy Scouts organization dealt with sexual abuse through the past decades are now surfacing as their secret files have been made public. While there are many stories being published, this blog is going to quote from a story that appeared in my local paper, The DAYTON DAILY NEWS.
My interest in the story is not so much about the Boy Scouts and that institution but more the implications, if any, for how the Church deals with sexual misconduct. What we see in the news about the BSA, as in the Penn State/Jerry Sandusky case, sexual abuse can occur wherever there are kids present. it is not religious institutions which have a penchant for child sex abuse but rather predators find their way to organizations where they can have access to children. The temptation and tendency by institutional leaders to protect the institution and downplay the problems is prevalent in church and non-church institutions.
I am quoting from the Dayton Daily News story, Boy Scout Files Reveal Local Abuse. (I have added the red highlight in the text to emphasize the part of the quote that I thought has implications for the Church’s handling of sexual misconduct).
“The files reveal that some alleged pedophiles across the country and locally continued in scouting even after allegations were leveled against them. In several cases, community leaders such as judges and pastors helped keep the name of scouting out of the courts or the media, according to an Associated Press review of the files.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.