Sexual abuse scandals are nothing new to Church. Oscar winning movie ‘Spotlight’ shows how these things happened in US and how key people either ignored or covered up the problems.
New reports from Australia are shocking. Tragically, this might not be a problem limited to US or Australia. A proper investigation may reveal numerous rotten apples from other countries as well.
Australian government investigators found that (from 1980 to 2015) there were 4444 victims of abuse.
What more,
"through this period... abused children were ignored or punished while priests who raped children were protected by supervisors"
Some of the key findings are,
1. 40.4% of religious brothers from the order of ‘St. John of God’ were accused of sexually assaulting their wards.
2. It took an average of 33 years for victims to overcome decades of personal despair and file complaints.
3. 7% of catholic priests in Australia between 1950 and 2010 allegedly sexually abused children.
4. 4444 people were reported child sexual abuse, which allegedly occurred at more than 1000 different institutions between 1980 and 2015.
5. Average age of victims was 10.5 for girls and 11.6 for boys.
6. Claims identified 1880 different alleged perpetrators.
7. 90% of alleged perpetrators were male, 10% were female.
8. Commission referred 309 cases to Police (this resulted in 27 prosecutions; additional 75 cases are under investigation)
In US, as per bishop-accountability.org,
1. 26 bishops, 3733 priests, 93 nuns, 287 brothers, 58 deacons, 23 seminarians (a total of 4,220) personals name have been made public for accusations of sexual abuse.
2. U.S. bishops have reported receiving allegations of abuse by 6,528 priests in 1950-2015 (or 5.9% of the 109,694 U.S. priests active in between 1950 and 2002) according to John Jay report.
Are we supposed to hear these kinds of things from the place of God; perpetuated by people who are considered as an intermediary between God and believers? It’s time to take tough measures against rotten apples who abuse the position and prey on poor helpless, homeless kids. Is there a crime bigger than that? Forcing all those small butterflies to live a miserable traumatized life is an action which will never be forgiven or forgotten by God. Handling sexual abuse scandals are going to be one of the biggest challenge to Vatican and Pope. If Vatican is not taking tough measures and notifying the authorities about abuses at right time, then people may loss their belief in the structure. Even Jesus will not forgive them.
Sajeev
References
1. Australian catholic church alleges 7 of priests sexually abused kids over decade
2. Australias grim toll in the churchs sex abuse scandal - NYT
3. bishop-accountability.org
New reports from Australia are shocking. Tragically, this might not be a problem limited to US or Australia. A proper investigation may reveal numerous rotten apples from other countries as well.
Australian government investigators found that (from 1980 to 2015) there were 4444 victims of abuse.
What more,
"through this period... abused children were ignored or punished while priests who raped children were protected by supervisors"
Some of the key findings are,
1. 40.4% of religious brothers from the order of ‘St. John of God’ were accused of sexually assaulting their wards.
2. It took an average of 33 years for victims to overcome decades of personal despair and file complaints.
3. 7% of catholic priests in Australia between 1950 and 2010 allegedly sexually abused children.
4. 4444 people were reported child sexual abuse, which allegedly occurred at more than 1000 different institutions between 1980 and 2015.
5. Average age of victims was 10.5 for girls and 11.6 for boys.
6. Claims identified 1880 different alleged perpetrators.
7. 90% of alleged perpetrators were male, 10% were female.
8. Commission referred 309 cases to Police (this resulted in 27 prosecutions; additional 75 cases are under investigation)
In US, as per bishop-accountability.org,
1. 26 bishops, 3733 priests, 93 nuns, 287 brothers, 58 deacons, 23 seminarians (a total of 4,220) personals name have been made public for accusations of sexual abuse.
2. U.S. bishops have reported receiving allegations of abuse by 6,528 priests in 1950-2015 (or 5.9% of the 109,694 U.S. priests active in between 1950 and 2002) according to John Jay report.
Are we supposed to hear these kinds of things from the place of God; perpetuated by people who are considered as an intermediary between God and believers? It’s time to take tough measures against rotten apples who abuse the position and prey on poor helpless, homeless kids. Is there a crime bigger than that? Forcing all those small butterflies to live a miserable traumatized life is an action which will never be forgiven or forgotten by God. Handling sexual abuse scandals are going to be one of the biggest challenge to Vatican and Pope. If Vatican is not taking tough measures and notifying the authorities about abuses at right time, then people may loss their belief in the structure. Even Jesus will not forgive them.
Sajeev
References
1. Australian catholic church alleges 7 of priests sexually abused kids over decade
2. Australias grim toll in the churchs sex abuse scandal - NYT
3. bishop-accountability.org
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