SEXUAL ABUSE IN SOCIAL CONTEXT:
MAS SURYODININGRAT
SEXUAL ABUSE IN SOCIAL CONTEXT:
CATHOLIC CLERGY AND OTHER PROFESSIONALS
Special Report
by
Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights
February 2004
PREFACE
The purpose of this special report is to put the recent scandal in the
Catholic Church in perspective. It does not seek to exculpate anyone who
had anything to do with priestly sexual misconduct, but it does seek to
challenge those who continue to treat this issue in isolation. Indeed, to
discuss the incidence of sexual abuse committed by Roman Catholic priests
without reference to the level of offense found among the clergy of other
religions, or to that of other professionals, is grossly unfair.
Specifically, this report was prepared to guide the discussion that will
inevitably follow two major studies that will be issued on February 27. One
of them, a national study on the extent of sexual abuse of minors by priests
since 1950, will be released by John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New
York City. The other is a study of the causes and consequences of the abuse
crisis; it will be released by the National Review Board that was
established by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Both
studies were done at the request of the U.S. bishops.
It is the belief of the Catholic League that no meaningful conversation can
take place on this issue without having some baseline data regarding the
incidence of abuse that occurs outside the Catholic Church. That was the
sole intent of this special report, and if it contributes to that end, then
it will have been a success.
William A. Donohue, Ph.D.
President
OVERALL DATA
The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data Systems was developed by the
Children's Bureau of the U.S. Department of Human Services in partnership
with the States to collect annual statistics on child maltreatment from
State child protective services agencies. For the year 2001, it was found
that approximately 903,000 children were victims of child maltreatment, 10
percent of whom (or 90,000) were sexually abused. It also found that 59
percent of the perpetrators of child abuse or neglect were women and 41
percent were men.[i]
In 2001, clinical child psychologist Wade F. Horn reported on the work of
researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health. The
researchers found that nearly 20 percent of low-income women, recruited
through family planning, obstetrical or gynecological clinics, had
experienced child sexual abuse.
Horn summarized the researchers' findings on poor women as follows: "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)." Horn was struck
by the fact that 10 percent were biological fathers and only 4 percent were
strangers. "Which means," he said, "86 percent of the perpetrators were
known to the family, but were someone other than the child's father."[ii]
According to Dr. Garth A. Rattray, about the same incidence of abuse occurs
among all the socio-economic classes. For example, he reports that "about
85 percent of the offenders [of child sexual abuse] are family members,
babysitters, neighbors, family friends or relatives. About one in six child
molesters are other children." Unlike the first study cited, Rattray
reports that most of the offenders are male.[iii]
It is obvious that children are much more likely to be sexually abused by
family members and friends than by anyone else. This suggests that if
preventative measures are to work, they must begin in the home, and not
someplace else.
PRIESTS
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]
The situation in Boston, the epicenter of the scandal, is even worse.
According to the Boston Globe, "Of the clergy sex abuse cases referred to
prosecutors in Eastern Massachusetts, more than 90 percent involve male
victims. And the most prominent Boston lawyers for alleged victims of
clergy sexual abuse have said that about 95 percent of their clients are
male."[ix]
In a database analysis of reports on more than 1,200 alleged victims of
priests identified by USA Today, 85 percent were males.[x] In another study
by USA Today, it was determined that of the 234 priests who have been
accused of sexual abuse of a minor while serving in the nation's 10 largest
dioceses and archdioceses, 91 percent of their victims were males.[xi]
Much has been made of a survey done by the Dallas Morning News which claims
that two-thirds of the nation's bishops have allowed priests accused of
sexual abuse to continue working. But the problem with the survey is its
definition of abuse-it includes everything from "ignoring warnings about
suspicious behavior" to "criminal convictions."[xii] Thus, the survey is of
limited utility.
MINISTERS
The data on the Protestant clergy tend to focus on sexual abuse in general,
not on sexual abuse of children. Thus, strict comparisons cannot always be
made. But there are some comparative data available on the subject of child
sexual molestation, and what has been reported is quite revealing.
In a 1984 survey, 38.6 percent of ministers reported sexual contact with a
church member, and 76 percent knew of another minister who had had sexual
intercourse with a parishioner.[xiii] In the same year, a Fuller Seminary
survey of 1,200 ministers found that 20 percent of theologically
"conservative" pastors admitted to some sexual contact outside of marriage
with a church member. The figure jumped to over 40 percent for "moderates";
50 percent of "liberal" pastors confessed to similar behavior.[xiv]
In 1990, in a study by the Park Ridge Center for the Study of Health, Faith
and Ethics in Chicago, it was learned that 10 percent of ministers said they
had had an affair with a parishioner and about 25 percent admitted some
sexual contact with a parishioner.[xv] Two years later, a survey by
Leadership magazine found that 37 percent of ministers confessed to having
been involved in "inappropriate sexual behavior" with a parishioner.[xvi]
In a 1993 survey by the Journal of Pastoral Care, 14 percent of Southern
Baptist ministers said they had engaged in "inappropriate sexual behavior,"
and 70 percent said they knew a minister who had had such contact with a
parishioner.[xvii] Joe E. Trull is co-author of the 1993 book, Ministerial
Ethics, and he found that "from 30 to 35 percent of ministers of all
denominations admit to having sexual relationships-from inappropriate
touching to sexual intercourse-outside of marriage."[xviii]
According to a 2000 report to the Baptist General Convention in Texas, "The
incidence of sexual abuse by clergy has reached 'horrific proportions.'" It
noted that in studies done in the 1980s, 12 percent of ministers had
"engaged in sexual intercourse with members" and nearly 40 percent had
"acknowledged sexually inappropriate behavior." The report concluded that
"The disturbing aspect of all research is that the rate of incidence for
clergy exceeds the client-professional rate for physicians and
psychologists."[xix] Regarding pornography and sexual addiction, a national
survey disclosed that about 20 percent of all ministers are involved in the
behavior.[xx]
In the spring of 2002, when the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church
was receiving unprecedented attention, the Christian Science Monitor
reported on the results of national surveys by Christian Ministry Resources.
The conclusion: "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]
Finally, 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]
OTHER CLERGY AND PROFESSIONALS
Rabbi Arthur Gross Schaefer is a professor of law and ethics at Loyola
Marymount University. It is his belief that sexual abuse among rabbis
approximates that found among the Protestant clergy. According to one
study, 73 percent of women rabbis report instances of sexual harassment.
"Sadly," Rabbi Schaefer concludes, "our community's reactions up to this
point have been often based on keeping things quiet in an attempt to do
'damage control.' Fear of lawsuits and bad publicity have dictated an
atmosphere of hushed voices and outrage against those who dare to break
ranks by speaking out."[xxiii]
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 problem of sexual abuse in the Jehovah's Witnesses is evident among
church elders but most of the abuse comes from congregation members. "The
victims who have stepped forward are mostly girls and young women," writes
Laurie Goodstein in the New York Times, "and many accusations involve
incest." There is a victims support group available, "silentlambs," that
has collected more than 5,000 Witnesses contending that the church
mishandled child sexual abuse.[xxvi]
According to one study, .2 percent of athletic coaches nationwide have a
criminal record of some sort of sexual offense. This translates to about
6,000 coaches in the U.S. who have been tried and found guilty of sexual
offense against children.[xxvii] It is not known how many more offenders
have escaped the reach of law enforcement.
Between 3 and 12 percent of psychologists have had sexual contact with their
clients. While today virtually every state considers sexual contact with a
client as worthy of revoking a psychologist's license, as recently as 1987
only 31 percent of state licensing boards considered sexual relations
between a psychologist and his or her patient grounds for license
revocation.[xxviii] What makes this statistic so interesting is that many
bishops in the 1980s took the advice of psychologists in handling molesting
priests.
TEACHERS
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]
In New York City alone, at least one child is sexually abused by a school
employee every day. One study concluded that more than 60 percent of
employees accused of sexual abuse in the New York City schools were
transferred to desk jobs at district offices located inside the schools.
Most of these teachers are tenured and 40 percent of those transferred are
repeat offenders. They call it "passing the garbage" in the schools. One
reason why this exists is due to efforts by the United Federation of
Teachers to protect teachers at the expense of children.[xxxi] Another is
the fact that teachers accused of sexual misconduct cannot be fired under
New York State law.[xxxii]
One of the nation's foremost authorities on the subject of the sexual abuse
of minors in public schools is Hofstra University professor Charol
Shakeshaft. In 1994, Shakeshaft and Audrey Cohan did a study of 225 cases
of educator sexual abuse in New York City. Their findings are astounding.
All of the accused admitted sexual abuse of a student, but none of the
abusers was reported to the authorities, and only 1 percent lost their
license to teach. Only 35 percent suffered negative consequences of any
kind, and 39 percent chose to leave their school district, most with
positive recommendations. Some were even given an early retirement
package.[xxxiii]
Moving molesting teachers from school district to school district is a
common phenomenon. And in only 1 percent of the cases do superintendents
notify the new school district.[xxxiv] According to Diana Jean Schemo, the
term "passing the trash" is the preferred jargon among educators.[xxxv]
Shakeshaft has also determined that 15 percent of all students have
experienced some kind of sexual misconduct by a teacher between kindergarten
and 12th grade; the behaviors range from touching to forced
penetration.[xxxvi] She and Cohan also found that up to 5 percent of
teachers sexually abuse children.[xxxvii] Shakeshaft will soon be ready to
release the findings of a vast study undertaken for the Planning and
Evaluation Service Office of the Undersecretary, U.S. Department of
Education, titled, "Educator Sexual Misconduct with Students: A Synthesis of
Existing Literature on Prevalence in Connection with the Design of a
National Analysis."[xxxviii]
CONCLUSION
The issue of child sexual molestation is deserving of serious scholarship.
Too often, assumptions have been made that this problem is worse in the
Catholic clergy than in other sectors of society. This report does not
support this conclusion. Indeed, it shows that 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.
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.[xxxix] 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.[xl]
Without comparative data, little can be learned. Numbers are not without
meaning, but they don't count for much unless a baseline has been
established. Moreover, sexual misconduct is difficult to measure given its
mostly private nature. While crime statistics are helpful, we know from
social science research that most crimes go unreported. This is especially
true of sexual abuse crimes. At the end of the day, estimates culled from
survey research are the best we can do.
By putting the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church in perspective,
it is hoped that this report will make for a more fair and educated public
response.
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[i] "Child Maltreatment 2001: Summary of Key Findings," National Adoption
Information Clearinghouse, www.calib.com/nccanch, April 2003.
[ii] Wade F. Horn, "Common-sense article about abuse," Washington Times,
February 6, 2001, p. E1.
[iii] Dr. Garth A. Rattray, "Child Month and Paedophilia," The Gleaner, May
14, 2002.
[iv]Alan Cooperman, "Hundreds of Priests Removed Since '60s; Survey Shows
Scope Wider Than Disclosed," Washington Post, June 9, 2002, p. A1.
[v]Laurie Goodstein, "Decades of Damage; Trail of Pain in Church Crisis
Leads to Nearly Every Diocese," New York Times, January 12, 2003, Section 1,
p. 1.
[vi] Interviewed by Bill O'Reilly, Transcript of "The O'Reilly Factor," May
3, 2002.
[vii] Bob von Sternberg, "Insurance Falls Short in Church Abuse Cases;
Catholic Dioceses are Forced to Find other Sources to Pay Settlements," Star
Tribune, July 27, 2002, p. 1A.
[viii] Thomas Plante, "A Perspective on Clergy Sexual Abuse,"
www.psywww.com/psyrelig/plante.html.
[ix] Thomas Farragher and Matt Carroll, "Church Board Dismissed Accusations
by Females," Boston.com, February 2, 2003.
[x] Janet Kornblum, "85% of Church Abuse Victims are Male, Research Finds,"
USA Today, July 24, 2002, pp. 6-7D.
[xi] "The Accusers and the Accused," USA Today, November 11, 2002, p. 7D.
[xii] Brooks Egerton and Reese Dunklin, "Two-thirds of Bishops Let Accused
Priests Work," Dallas Morning News, June 12, 2002, p. 1A.
[xiii] Dale Neal, "Methodist Clergy Instructed in Sexual Ethics at
Conference," Asheville Citizen-Times, May 14, 2002, p. 1B.
[xiv] Cal Thomas, "Their Sins only Start with Abuse," Baltimore Sun, June
19, 2002, p. 9A.
[xv] James L. Franklin, "Sexual Misconduct Seen as a Serious Problem in
Religion," Boston Globe, October 23, 1991, p. 24.
[xvi] "Pastors Are People, Too!", Focus on the Family, May 1996, p. 7.
[xvii] Teresa Watanabe, "Sex Abuse by Clerics-A Crisis of Many Faiths," Los
Angeles Times, March 25, 2002, p. A1.
[xviii] Cal Thomas, "Their Sins only Start with Abuse," Baltimore Sun, June
19, 2002, p. 9A.
[xix] Terry Mattingly, "Baptists' Traditions Make it Hard to Oust
Sex-Abusing Clergy," Knoxville News-Sentinel, June 22, 2002, p. C2.
[xx] "Assemblies of God Tackles Problem of Porn Addiction Among Ministers,"
Charisma, January 2001, p. 24.
[xxi] Mark Clayton, "Sex Abuse Spans Spectrum of Churches," Christian
Science Monitor, April 5, 2002, p. 1.
[xxii] Philip Jenkins, Pedophiles and Priests (New York: Oxford University
Press), pp. 50 and 81.
[xxiii] Rabbi Arthur Gross Schaefer, "Rabbi Sexual Misconduct: Crying Out
for a Communal Response," www.rrc.edu/journal, November 24, 2003.
[xxiv] Roger Lovette, "Religious Leaders Must Learn to Handle Conflict
Constructively," Birmingham News, April 28, 2002.
[xxv] See www.theawarenesscenter.org/clergyabuse.
[xxvi] Laurie Goodstein, "Ousted Members Say Jehovah's Witnesses' Policy on
Abuse Hides Offenses," New York Times, August 11, 2002, Section 1, p. 26.
[xxvii] Michael Dobie, "Violation of Trust; When Young Athletes Are
Sex-Abuse Victims, Their Coaches Are Often the Culprits," Newsday, June 9,
2002, p. C25.
[xxviii] "Sexual Misconduct (ROLES): New Research Therapy Doesn't Deter
Sexual Misconduct by Psychologists," Sex Weekly, September 15, 1997, pp.
27-28.
[xxix] Michael Dobie, "Violation of Trust," Newsday, June 9, 2002, p. C25.
[xxx] Daniel Wishnietsky, "Reported and Unreported Teacher-Student Sexual
Harassment,"
Journal of Ed Research, Vol. 3, 1991, pp. 164-69.
[xxxi] Douglas Montero, "Secret Shame of Our Schools: Sexual Abuse of
Students Runs Rampant," New York Post, July 30, 2001, p. 1.
[xxxii] "Schools Chancellor: Four Teachers Barred from Classroom,"
Associated Press, June 12, 2003.
[xxxiii] Charol Shakeshaft and Audrey Cohan, In loco parentis: Sexual abuse
of students in schools, (What administrators should know). Report to the
U.S. Department of Education, Field Initiated Grants
[xxxiv] Ibid.
[xxxv]Diana Jean Schemo, "Silently Shifting Teachers in Sex Abuse Cases,"
New York Times, June 18, 2002, p. A19.
[xxxvi] Elizabeth Cohen, "Sex Abuse of Students Common; Research Suggests
15% of All Children Harassed," Press & Sun-Bulletin, February 10, 2002, p.
1A.
[xxxvii] Berta Delgado and Sarah Talalay, "Sex Cases Increase in Schools;
Many Acts of Teacher Misconduct Not Being Reported," Sun-Sentinel, June 4,
1995, p. 1A.
[xxxviii] The study is in draft form and is not yet available for quotation.
[xxxix] The dates of the study were April 5-7, 2002. It was reported in
Roper Center at University of Connecticut Public Opinion Online, Accession
Number 0402247. Hart and Teeter Research Companies did the survey.
[xl] The Catholic League took pains to credit the media with fair coverage
of the scandal. See the "Executive Summary" of the Catholic League's 2002
Report on Anti-Catholicism. It is available online at
www.catholicleague.org.