UNITED STATES
1st Feline Battalion
In the early 200s, the Roman Catholic world suffered what turned out to be a major earthquake: for decades, many clergy committed acts of sexual abuse against both children and adults. The extent of the abuses was global. Worse, many Archdioceses were complicit in covering up the abuses. This was a huge black eye for Catholics.
When the Catholic scandals hit the fan, many Protestants decried–with some merit–the institutional problems within the Catholic Church that permitted the culture of abuse to fester: notably (a) celibacy requirements for clergy and (b) a severe lack of transparency and accountability.
Still, Protestants had issues of their own on this front, and–while Protestants don’t require clergy to be celibate–many congregations have a deep-seated culture of hypocrisy that nurtures coverups of abuses, including sexual abuses.
During my seminary days, I had a friend–ND (not her real initials)–who spilled the beans:
She was raised in a Baptist Church.
She was in an outwardly “good, Christian family”.
Her father started having sex with her when she was 13.
The abuses continued for about four years.
She finally decided to do the right hing: she moved out of the house, reported her father to the police, and he was promptly arrested.
He was sent to prison, and ND found herself abandoned by her family and effectively made persona non grata at her church.
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