This morning I spoke to the First Friday Club of Worcester on a topic on everyone's mind: the sexual abuse of children in the world, the family and the Church.
In these tumultuous days, the Church seems to be drowning in a storm of righteous indignation at those priests who have molested children and those Bishops who have covered it up. Indeed, a line from yesterday morning’s Gospel comes to mind, when contemplating the scourge of the sexual abuse of children, and the horror of God’s judgement on the unrepentant sinner: “it would be better for him if he were thrown into the sea with a millstone around his neck.”
As a former Seminary Rector, and now Rector, once again, of our Cathedral Church (I just can’t get away from that title) I thought I might spend these few minutes rushing in where others too often fail to tread, in making a couple quick if considered points about the crime and horror of the sexual abuse of children which has become such a scourge for our Church, our families and our world.
First, it’s all over the place. The sexual abuse of children is widespread in our society, with some suggesting that one third of all girls and one fifth of all boys will be molested before they reach the age of 18. Other studies report that as much as two-thirds of all sexual abuse takes place within the family, while the U.S. Department of Education predicts that 10% of all school children will be abused by a teacher or school employee before they graduate.
Second, it’s about the Church. At the height of this crisis, as many as 4% of priests were reported as abusers (the percentage of pedophiles in the general male population, by the way, is usually put at something like 4%, as well). So how did the Church react? By engaging the John Jay school of Criminal Justice to find out what was happening, why it happened and how could we stop it. How could we keep children safe?
So, third, one of the first questions asked by the John Jay studies early on was: Who were those Priests that abused children? What made them different than the 96% of Priests who did not offend? Three things.
1. First, as the Jay College observed that 20-25% of the abusive priests “had serious psychiatric difficulties, while 60-70% suffered from emotional immaturity.” “Those who were underdeveloped were more comfortable with teenagers, had few friends their own age, and used intellectualization as a coping device.”
Today, by the way, Seminaries and Dioceses use Psychological testing to screen for markers of social and sexual development and indicate proper ways to help candidates for the priesthood to grow in these areas.
2. A second factor common to abusive priests was cited by one researcher as “a lack of education concerning sexuality and celibacy which prolongs adolescence, thus using celibacy as “a way of hiding from one’s problems.”
Here too, Seminaries have been key in educating seminarians on essential human relationships and how a healthy view of sexuality can lead to a happy and balanced life. Discerning with the candidate for Priesthood whether God is calling him to be a celibate, the seminary also encourages transparency and accountability in all his relationships.
3. Finally, another study of abusive priests, found that 70-80% of of them “were sexually abused as children and 10% were approached by a priest while studying in the seminary.”
By a careful review of the sexual and relational history of incoming students, Seminaries are able to recognize and assist those who had been abused to heal from that abuse and face the unique challenges it presents to achieving a psycho-sexually balanced and healthy life.
But the Church's efforts, as you know, did not stop there. The Bishops implemented a Charter for the Protection of Children, which included, in addition to better screening and training of candidates for the Priesthood, the screening of all Church volunteers, the training of all employees and volunteers so they could recognize and prevent Child sexual abuse and the establishment of Professional Standards in all our Dioceses.
Practices were adopted to refer all allegations first to the police and then to lay Boards which would help the Bishop to investigate and adjudicate all accusations. We are blessed in the Diocese of Worcester with an especially talented Diocesan Review Board composed of lay men and women who have worked with child sexual assault for decades. We have a child psychologist and social workers, a pediatrician, a retired corporal from the Massachusetts State Police, a retired police detective from the Connecticut State Police, a retired judge and local attorney to cite some of the members. Together they have decades and decades of extensive experience between them working with child sexual assault and offender treatment. A zero tolerance policy for those who would abuse a child was likewise established and audits and accountability processes were instituted.
So, finally, to my last question. Did these efforts at child protection work? What were the results? I began by noting that at its height as many as 4% of priests were reported as abusers. Last year seven priests in our country were accused of current abuse (that’s seven priests out of about 37,000 of us nationwide)
However, if there is even one priest who has abused a child, that is one too many and we still have still not done enough. The only acceptable number is 0. Zero priests. Zero fathers. Zero uncles. Zero scout leaders. Zero teachers. Zero coaches.
Which is why we must never grow tired finding new ways to keep our children safe. Through screening and training of each and every Church employee and volunteer, through rapid reporting of each allegation to the police and through stringent application of Codes of Professional Conduct.
Last week, in writing to all our Cathedral employees and volunteers as part of an effort to make sure our child protection policies were uniformly applied, I quoted Pope Francis, who rededicated us to the “conviction that everything possible must be done to rid the Church of the scourge of the sexual abuse of minors…”
For the life of a child is sacred, and the dignity of their life is beyond measure. And woe to whoever causes harm to one of these little ones.
