Clerical Child Abuse

Childhood sexual abuse by representatives of the Roman Catholic Church: A prevalence estimate among the Dutch population

This paper provides background to the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church in Ireland and outlines the particular Irish dimensions to the problem. It argues that a systemic perspective offers best promise to conceptualise the problem of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and outlines. In turning to how the problem has been investigated by statutory and church commissioned inquiries and commissions of investigation (Murphy, 2009; Ryan, 2009) it becomes apparent that how the past is investigated and framed is not merely a neutral matter, but one that is complexly interwoven with present politic and changing social conditions. In offering a critique of the Murphy Report into the Handling of Abuse Complaints in the Archdioceses of Dublin (Murphy, 2009), as one example of a statutory commission of investigation in Ireland, some significant legal and methodological issues are raised that give cause for concern regarding some of the findings and judgements made. What cannot be disputed however is the fact that thousands of children were abused by Catholic clergy in Ireland and worldwide. We owe it to them to get to the full truth of what occurred and to prevent its re-occurrence. In considering a way forward for the church, victims of clergy must be placed at the centre of the church’s response, other key actors must be brought together in dialogue and the church must deal with the systemic genesis of the problem in a spirit of institutional reform and transformation.

This article has been adapted from the 4th Michael Kirby Justice Oration, delivered at the College of Law & Justice, Victoria University, Melbourne, on 7 October 2014.

This article has been adapted from the 8th Michael Kirby Justice Oration, delivered at the College of Law & Justice, Victoria University, Melbourne, on 26 September 2018.

Interview with the Chief Judge of the County Court of Victoria conducted on 19 August 2014 at the College of Law & Justice, Victoria University in Melbourne.

This article has been adapted from the 7th Michael Kirby Justice Oration, delivered at the College of Law & Justice, Victoria University, Melbourne, on 27 September 2017.

This article has been adapted from the 9th Michael Kirby Justice Oration, delivered at the College of Law & Justice, Victoria University, Melbourne, on 27 August 2019.

This article has been adapted from the 10th Michael Kirby Justice Oration, delivered at the College of Law & Justice, Victoria University, Melbourne, on 25 August 2021 via video-link.

Father-Daughter Incest

For decades, the annual numbers of exits of members from the Catholic Church and Protestant Church have been increasing. Closer inspection of diocese‐level data shows that the time‐series pattern of exits is nonlinear with a series of intermediate peaks. This paper uses an event study approach to model the impacts of various scandals on church exit rates. We find that sexual abuse and financial scandals located in the Catholic Church contribute to increased exit rates not just in that Church but also, by way of spillover effects, to higher exit rates of Protestant Church members.

Webcast sponsored by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and hosted by the Vancouver Institute. Mr. Robinson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter for The Boston Globe where he currently holds the title of Editor-at-Large. He led the Globe's coverage of the Roman Catholic clergy sexual abuse scandal, investigating reports of child sexual abuse by Catholic priests for which the newspaper won, and he personally accepted, the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.

Over the past several years the unending consequences of the sexual abuse scandal has shaped a significant part of ecclesial life in the United States. In the aftermath of the release of “The Nature and Scope of the Problem of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests and Deacons in the United States” (the John Jay Report) and “A Report on the Crisis in the Catholic Church” (the work of the National Review Board for the Protection of Children and Young People), there have been several responses to the crisis at hand: financial settlements, the genesis of the Voice of the Faithful, bankruptcies, and parish closures. While there have been movements toward reconciliation in a variety of situations: the audits of most dioceses, healing rituals for victims and families, and an outreach for those in need of psychological and medical resources, the Catholic Church in the United States is clearly a wounded church. The response to a wounded church requires a process of reconciliation for each and every one of us. This process of reconciliation acknowledges “that context

von Kellenbach K. Guilt and Its Purification. <em>CrossCurrents</em>. 2019;69(3):238-251.

Much has been written in recent years about the religious attitudes and aspirations of young adults. It is clear that many Catholics are concerned about what they perceive to be the distancing of young adults from the institutional church. In a 2003 poll, more than half of Catholics surveyed said that the lack of participation by young adults is a serious problem for the church (D’Antonio et al., 77). They listed this concern as one of the three most serious problems faced by the U.S. Catholic Church, along with the clergy sexual abuse scandal and the decline in vocations to religious life and the priesthood. In his recent study of young adults from all religious backgrounds, Princeton sociologist Robert Wuthnow compares them to young adults of the 1970s. He concludes that “young adults are less likely to participate in religious services than they were a generation ago” (Wuthnow, 214). He describes himself as “troubled” by his findings about the religious involvement of young U.S. Americans. It is evident that the challenges set before the Catholic Church with regard to eliciting young adult participation are also faced by other religious groups. I am currently involved with young adults in two settings: the theology classroom, where I teach systematic theology to graduate students, and through young

This study deals with the question of Roman Catholics’ commitment to their Church after the sexual abuse crisis. This question is answered through a survey among 131 Roman Catholics. Several dimensions of commitment can be distinguished: feeling shocked by the abuse, accusing the Church of laxity and negligence, the trust that one has in the media, losing trust in the Catholic Church, doubting one’s faith, and distancing oneself from the Church. The respondents express criticism of the Church, yet also loyalty to it. We describe a four-stage model of the loss of commitment: 1. learning about the abuse; 2. criticism of the Church; 3. loss of faith and 4. erosion of ties with the Church. In women and in respondents who know abuse victims, erosion of commitment occurs more frequently. In respondents with a theological background, loss of commitment is relatively minor.