Is Sex by Catholic Clergy Expanding or Subsiding


A publication that focuses on the Catholic Church but is independent of it is predicting the pattern of sexual relationships by priests will expand not subside. These involve not just the children of the past but adults who feel they are victims.

The link says Catholic bureaucracy has mostly focused on priests who have abused children. It has put into place some rules and precautions. Adult women, however, who have made charges of sexual abuse by clergy have not received nearly as much attention. They do not seem to be seen as victims. Can an adult woman seduced by a priest make the claim of victim?

Since the beginning of man, my guess is that men have used religion to seduce women. I've read testimony a gazillion times, "God wants us to do this." While male bosses who make moved against females who depend on them for a job are sometimes successful in prosecution of sexual abuse, I'm not aware clergy are seen as having positions of power over women. Certainly, they should not see their priest has being an authority about anything or having power over anyone, reality is something different. The Jim Jones cult in Jonestown died when ol' Jim told them to drink the poison. Smaller versions of this are all around us. Sometimes, no doubt, the "cult" consists of one man and one woman.

When Catholic friends tell me their denomination has put the hammer down on sexual abuse, I often suggest they read the six issues a year of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Every issue has cases of clergy in trouble with the law. The cases come from members who forward this cases from their local news papers and are not the result of combing over public records. One would think there are many cases settled quietly without charges files. There are 50-70 new cases every other month. Most of the case are sexual abuse but there are some cases of theft. Most of the clergy abuse is in protestant churches not affiliated with what we used to call denominations. There remain, however, new Catholic cases in every issue.

The link says there are Catholic clergy accused of abusing adult women are still working priests in good standing. It also claims Bishops move these priests around whenever things get too thorny. An added claim is that troublesome priests are transferred to settings where it is more unlikely abuse claims will be made.

The link concludes sexual abuse by Catholic clergy will expand in the future, not subside. It is a warning to church goers, be careful  

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