Sexual abuse is certainly not unique to Catholic clergy, but as the largest Christian organization in the United States, the Church has been a tempting target for lawsuits, many of which rely on false memories of events decades ago.
The Catholic League reports:
According to a survey by the Washington Post, over the last four decades, less than 1.5 percent of the estimated 60,000 or more men who have served in the Catholic clergy have been accused of child sexual abuse.[iv] According to a survey by the New York Times, 1.8 percent of all priests ordained from 1950 to 2001 have been accused of child sexual abuse.[v] Thomas Kane, author of Priests are People Too, estimates that between 1 and 1.5 percent of priests have had charges made against them.[vi] Of contemporary priests, the Associated Press found that approximately two-thirds of 1 percent of priests have charges pending against them.[vii]
Almost all the priests who abuse children are homosexuals. Dr. Thomas Plante, a psychologist at Santa Clara University, found that “80 to 90% of all priests who in fact abuse minors have sexually engaged with adolescent boys, not prepubescent children. Thus, the teenager is more at risk than the young altar boy or girls of any age.”[viii]
Protestant churches have at least as great a problem. Christian Science Monitor: “Despite headlines focusing on the priest pedophile problem in the Roman Catholic Church, most American churches being hit with child sexual-abuse allegations are Protestant, and most of the alleged abusers are not clergy or staff, but church volunteers.”[xxi]
In the authoritative work by Penn State professor Philip Jenkins, Pedophiles and Priests, it was determined that between .2 and 1.7 percent of priests are pedophiles. The figure among the Protestant clergy ranges between 2 and 3 percent.[xxii]
Nor are rabbis exempt: Rabbi Joel Meyers, executive vice president of the Conservative Rabbinical Assembly, reports that 30 percent of rabbis who changed positions in 2000 did so involuntarily, and that sexual abuse was a factor in many instances.[xxiv] The Awareness Center devotes an entire website to “Clergy Abuse: Rabbis, Cantors & Other Trusted Officials.” It is a detailed and frank look at the problem of sexual abuse by rabbis.[xxv]
The most serious case of sexual abuse outside the home appear in youth sports and in schools:
The American Medical Association found in 1986 that one in four girls, and one in eight boys, are sexually abused in or out of school before the age of 18. Two years later, a study included in The Handbook on Sexual Abuse of Children, reported that one in four girls, and one in six boys, is sexually abused by age 18.[xxix] It was reported in 1991 that 17.7 percent of males who graduated from high school, and 82.2 percent of females, reported sexual harassment by faculty or staff during their years in school. Fully 13.5 percent said they had sexual intercourse with their teacher.[xxx]
Conclusion: Family members are the most likely to sexually molest a child. It also shows that the incidence of the sexual abuse of a minor is slightly higher among the Protestant clergy than among the Catholic clergy, and that it is significantly higher among public school teachers than among ministers and priests.
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My view: Power corrupts, and it requires a very strong conscience to reject the temptations of power. A priest, a minister, a rabbi, a coach, or a school teacher has great authority and also opportunity for sexual abuse. This means we must be very careful in screening out candidates for these positions with any history of sexual abuse, and we must remove anyone at the first instance of abuse. We probably need not tie millstones around their necks and drown them in the depths of the sea, but we should recognize that sexually harming children is about as vicious as sin can get.
Can anyone suggest readings for a Catholic Wedding Ceremony?
Getting married 6 Sep 2008! Need help choosing 1st, 2nd Readings, Reponsorial Psalm. Pleas help! There are so many generic ones - looking for unique ones that sound loving and even romantic if possible.
Lay readers are supposed to read the first reading, the responsorial psalm, and the second reading.
The priest or deacon should read the Gospel.
Suggested readings:
First Reading - Old Testament
• Genesis 2:18-24
• Songs of Songs 2:8-10, 13b-14, 16; 8:6-7
• Sirach 26:1-4; 13-16
• Genesis 1:26-28,31a (The Creation of Man and Woman)
• Genesis 24:48-51,58-67 (The Meeting of Isaac and Rebekah)
• Tobit 7:9c10,11c-17 (The Marriage of Tobias and Sarah)
• Tobit 8:4-9 (Prayer of the New Spouses)
• Jeremiah 31:31-32a,33-34a (The New Covenant of the People of God)
Responsorial Psalms
• Psalm 34
• Psalm 103
• Psalm 128
• Psalm 33 (The Lord is our help and shield; our hearts rejoice in Him)
• Psalm 34 (The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and rescues them)
• Psalm 46 (God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble)
• Psalm 103 (As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him)
• Psalm 112 (Happy the man who fears the Lord)
• Psalm 121 (My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth)
• Psalm 127 (Children are a gift of the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward)
• Psalm 128 (Happiness and prosperity will be yours)
• Psalm 145 (The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth)
Second Reading - Epistle
• 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
• Colossians 3:12-17
• 1 John 4:7-12
• Romans 8:31b-35,37-39 (The Love of Christ)
• Romans 12:1-2,9-13 (The Life of a Christian) - short version
• Romans 12:1-2,9-18 (The Life of a Christian) - longer version
• 1 Corinthians 6:13c-15a,17-20 (Your Members of Temples of the Holy Spirit)
• 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (Love is patient and kind)
• Ephesians 3:14-19 (The Father from whom every family is named)
• Ephesians 5:1-2,25-32 (The Mystery of Christian Marriage) - short version
• Ephesians 5:1-2,21-33 (The Mystery of Christian Marriage) - longer version
• Colossians 3:12-17 (Live in Love and Thanksgiving)
• 1 Peter 3:1-9 (Peace and Harmony in the Family)
• 1 John 3:18-24 (Love, Real and Active)
• 1 John 4:7-12 (God is Love)
• Revelation 19:1,5-9a (Marriage of the Lamb)
Gospel
• Mark 10:6-9
• John 2:1-11
• John 15:9:12
• Matthew 5:1-12a (The Beatitudes)
• Matthew 5:13-16 (Salt of the Earth, Light of the World)
• Matthew 7:21,24-25 (House Built upon a Rock) - short version
• Matthew 7:21,24-29 (House Built upon a Rock) - longer version
• Matthew 19:3-6 (What God Has United, Man Must Not Divide)
• Matthew 22:35-40 (Love, the Greatest Commandment)
• Mark 10:6-9 (Two Become One Body)
• John 2:1-11 (Marriage Feast in Cana of Galilee)
• John 15:9-12 (Remain in my Love)
• John 15:12-16 (Love One Another)
• John 17:20-23 (That They May Be One) - short version
• John 17:20-26 (That They May Be One) - longer version
