Nearly 11,000 children were abused by priests in the U.S.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
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U.S. children were victims of alleged sexual abuse by more than 4,000 priests over 52 years, said the largest study on a past "tragic" and "shameful" by the Catholic Church in country.
06/sep/2007.- The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in an act of contrition and insight, today released statistical and other complementary, as part of its efforts to restore the faith of the 65.3 million Catholics in the institution.
06/sep/2007.- The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in an act of contrition and insight, today released statistical and other complementary, as part of its efforts to restore the faith of the 65.3 million Catholics in the institution.
The results of both reports covering the period between 1955 and 2007, revealed that the problem is bigger than thought: 4.392 priests 4 percent-a total of 109.694 - were accused of sexual abuse of minors 10.667.
Of that total, approximately 6,700 cases had sufficient evidence, other 3.300 were not investigated because the priests had died, and another 1,000 had no reliable evidence to warrant an investigation.
The study of John Jay College for Criminal Justice, which was based on 97 percent of the 195 dioceses that responded to its questionnaires, added that just over half of the reported abuses were committed against children between 11 and 14 years, with 81 percent of victims were male and 19 percent women.
The 40.9 percent of the abuses occurred in the priest's residence, 16.3 percent in the church itself and 42.8 percent elsewhere, he said.
In total, the Catholic Church spent a little over 572 million dollars in legal costs, compensation, counseling for victims and treatment for priests.
That figure does not include costs incurred after completion of the national study and the 85 million who recently agreed to pay the Archdiocese of Boston to settle some of the claims.
Part of the blame for this epidemic were, in many cases, the bishops who, knowing the situation, not corrected and were more concerned with protecting the reputation of the Church, as the supplementary analysis of the National Board of Review ("National Review Board").
"This lack of leadership (by some bishops) has been an embarrassment to the Church," summed up the Board.
"I assure you that well-known authors are no longer members of the ministry," said Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB, in English).
Gregory added: "I can say with absolute certainty that the bishops have put in place mechanisms to respond immediately to these accusations, help victims and expel those responsible." According
USCCB, about 700 priests and deacons have been removed from ministry since January 2002.
During a press conference in Washington, however, both Gregory and the other bishops assembled there will be insisted that the bishops of each diocese will have to decide whether or not to disclose the names of pedophile priests.
added that the Vatican has shown great openness and willingness to continue with remedial measures to tackle the problem.
As the archbishop of Santa Fe (New Mexico), Michael Sheehan, this has been a sobering experience, which has forced major changes in training of seminarians, to avoid repetition.
"The numbers are impressive, terrible ... sexual abuse is a serious issue in society and as Catholics, we must do everything possible to eliminate this problem," Sheehan told reporters.
Both studies show that the number of abuse and priests involved could be higher, as figures released today were handed over voluntarily by the diocese.
addition, many victims have chosen to remain silent on the alleged abuse because of fear or shame.
For Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), the report is as only a first step, because "the diagnosis is not a cure," he told EFE the organization's director, David Clohessy.
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