On 9 Jul 10, FOX News posted an Associated Press article which reported that Pope Benedict XVI appointed a senior Vatican official to lead and rehabilitate the Legionaries of Christ. The appointment came after an eight-month investigation of the scandal ridden order.
The article stated, “The investigation of the order showed that the Legionaries needed to be deeply re-evaluated and purified to survive.” The scandal of the order was centered around its disgraced founder, the Rev. Marciel Maciel. Investigations alleged that Maciel “sexually abused seminarians and fathered at least three children.”
The report related that the Vatican is expected to issue new instructions on dealing with pedophile priests. The report noted, “The church's internal justice system for dealing with abuse allegations has come under attack because of claims by victims that their accusations were long ignored by bishops more concerned about protecting the church and by the Congregation, which was headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger from 1981 until he was elected pope in 2005.”
The Associated Press reference was to then Cardinal Ratzinger's position as Prefect to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the church’s doctrinal office. According to a 9 Apr 10, “New York Times” article, then, Cardinal Ratzinger was reported as slow to respond to a request to defrock a priest implicated in a child sexual abuse scandal. According to the “New York Times,” the request to defrock the priest was initiated in 1981, however, the priest was not defrocked until 1987.
The report related, that the Diocese of Oakland, in 2005, settled with about eight victims of the priest and paid an average $1 million to $1.5 million to each victim.
On 14 Jul 10, NewsTimes.com posted an Associated Press article which related that Archbishop Velasio De Paolis told the members of the Legionaries of Christ they must examine their consciences and reform in the wake of the allegations that Maciel “had led a secret double life devoid of any scruples or religious sentiment.”
The report noted that Archbishop De Paolis is a 75-year-old Italian canon law expert. The reported related that in his first homily to Legionary priests and seminarians, Archbishop De Paolis said, "We will overcome the darkness that at times can oppress us; we will overcome the difficulties also of our human weakness and fragility, because the mystery of God is greater than all human weakness."
The article stated, “De Paolis' appointment was the latest in a series of moves taken [by] the Vatican aimed at shoring up the church amid a worldwide clerical sex abuse scandal.” According to a Pew Research Center study, published 11 Jun 10, “Newspaper coverage of the Catholic clergy sexual abuse scandal grew more intense this spring than at any time since 2002.”
While there is significant room for criticism of how the Catholic Church has handled individual cases, the intensity of media coverage gives an impression that taints all the clergy of the Catholic Church. According to a Catholic League summary published in Feb 2004, researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health found, “Family friends and acquaintances compose the largest group of perpetrators (28 percent), followed by such relatives as uncles and cousins (18 percent), stepfathers (12 percent), male siblings (10 percent), biological fathers (10 percent), boyfriends of the child’s mother (9 percent), grandfathers and stepgrandfathers (7 percent), and strangers (4 percent).”
The summary also noted that, “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.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.”
According to the summary, the various studies indicate approximately 85 percent of the offenders [of child sexual abuse] are family members, babysitters, neighbors, family friends or relatives, while 5 percent are school teachers, 2 to 3 percent are Protestant ministers, and 1.5 percent are Catholic priests.
The summary concluded, “Too often, assumptions have been made that this problem is worse in the Catholic clergy than in other sectors of society.” The summary continued, “In a survey for the Wall Street Journal-NBC News, it was found that 64 percent of the public thought that Catholic priests frequently abused children.” The summary related, “This is outrageously unfair, but it is not surprising given the media fixation on this issue. While it would be unfair to blame the media for the scandal in the Catholic Church, the constant drumbeat of negative reporting surely accounts for these remarkably skewed results.
Cited Articles and Posts
FOX News (9 Jul 10)
NY Times (9 Apr 10)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/10/world/europe/10pope.html
NewsTimes.com (14 Jul 10)
Pew Research (11 Jun 10)
Catholic League (Feb 04)
