Repeat Offending, Victim Gender, and Extent of Victim Relationship in Catholic Church Sexual Abusers

2008 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 600-614 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony D. Perillo ◽  
Cynthia Calkins Mercado ◽  
Karen J. Terry

Despite wide reports of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, empirical data on Catholic Church sexual abuse have not been readily available. The present study examines factors associated with sex-offender risk assessment along three criteria (repeat offending, victim gender, and victim relationship) on a sample of sexual abusers in the Catholic Church. Data from 4,392 priests with documented allegations of child sexual abuse were used. Logistic regression analysis resulted in significant predictive models for all comparisons. Factors consistently found to be significant predictors across comparisons included victim age, cleric age, all male victims, and history of victimization. Results suggest that risk predictors for Catholic Church sexual abusers are similar to those used in the general sex-offender population.

2019 ◽  
Vol 80 (3) ◽  
pp. 572-589
Author(s):  
Massimo Faggioli

The sexual abuse crisis has long-term consequences: not only on the victims and survivors of abuse, but also on the theological standing and balance of the Catholic Church throughout the world. Theological rethinking in light of the abuse crisis is necessary: not only from the lens of those who have suffered, but also from the lens of the changes caused by this global crisis in the history of the whole Catholic community. The article examines the consequences of the abuse crisis on different theological disciplines, with particular attention to the history of the Catholic Church, liturgy, ecclesiology of reform, and church–state relationships.


2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew P. Lynch

This paper argues that for religion, social inclusion is not certain once gained, but needs to be constantly renegotiated in response to continued challenges, even for mainstream religious organisations such as the Catholic Church. The paper will analyse the Catholic Church’s involvement in the Australian public sphere, and after a brief overview of the history of Catholicism’s struggle for equal status in Australia, will consider its response to recent challenges to maintain its position of inclusion and relevance in Australian society. This will include an examination of its handling of sexual abuse allegations brought forward by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, and its attempts to promote its vision of ethics and morals in the face of calls for marriage equality and other social issues in a society of greater religious diversity.


2008 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 629-642 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia Calkins Mercado ◽  
Jennifer A. Tallon ◽  
Karen J. Terry

This study aims to enhance understanding of clergy offending patterns through a comparison of low-rate and high-rate clergy offenders. Data for these re-analyses are derived from 3,674 cases from the Nature and Scope of Child Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church. This article compares those clerics who had just one allegation with those who had a moderate (2 to 3), high (4 to 9), or exceptionally high (10-plus) number of allegations of sexual abuse. Findings reveal that the 3.7% ( n =137) who had 10 or more victims accounted for a disproportionate 24.8% of the abuse. Priests with the most victims began perpetrating offenses at an earlier age and were more likely to have male victims than those who abused fewer victims. The importance of research addressing the causes and situational correlates of sexual offending by priests, as well as the need for more refined management strategies, are discussed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-47
Author(s):  
Eduardo Acuña Aguirre

This article refers to the political risks that a group of five parishioners, members of an aristocratic Catholic parish located in Santiago, Chile, had to face when they recovered and discovered unconscious meanings about the hard and persistent psychological and sexual abuse they suffered in that religious organisation. Recovering and discovering meanings, from the collective memory of that parish, was a sort of conversion event in the five parishioners that determined their decision to bring to the surface of Chilean society the knowledge that the parish, led by the priest Fernando Karadima, functioned as a perverse organisation. That determination implied that the five individuals had to struggle against powerful forces in society, including the dominant Catholic Church in Chile and the political influences from the conservative Catholic elite that attempted to ignore the existence of the abuses that were denounced. The result of this article explains how the five parishioners, through their concerted political actions and courage, forced the Catholic Church to recognise, in an ambivalent way, the abuses committed by Karadima. The theoretical basis of this presentation is based on a socioanalytical approach that mainly considers the understanding of perversion in organisations and their consequences in the control of anxieties.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (`1) ◽  
pp. 49-68
Author(s):  
Piotr Wojnicz

The Catholic Church is naturally associated with migrants and its history and doctrine areinextricably linked with the migration of people. Many of the documents of the Catholic Church referto the history of human migration. The responsibility of the Catholic Church for migrants has deephistorical and theological roots. The Catholic Church sees both the positive and the negative sidesof this phenomenon The pastoral care of migrants is a response to the needs of these people. It doesnot replace the territorial structures. They both work closely together and complement each other.The primary objective of the pastoral care of migrants is to enable migrants to integrate with thelocal community. An important element of these structures are religious orders of men and women.The most important thing for migrants is the Christian attitude of the local community tothem. Church repeatedly stressed the importance of hospitality to migrants. Both human andChristian attitude towards migrants expresses itself in a good reception, which is the main factorin overcoming the inevitable difficulties, preventing opposites and solving various problems. Thisattitude helps to alleviate the problems associated with the process of social integration.


2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 67-88
Author(s):  
Jacek Wojda

Seventieth of XIX century were very hard time for Catholic Church in Polish Kingdom. Mainreason was aim for independency in Poles’ hearts. Deeply connected with polish nation, Churchsuffered because of Tsar’ political repression. Although different stages of its history are not closelyconnected with post uprising’s repressions.Report of French General Consulate in Warsaw bearing a date 1869 stress accent on samekind of the Catholic Church persecutions, which were undertaken against bishops and dioceseadministrators, and some of them were died during deportation on Siberia, north or south Russia.Hierarchy was put in a difficult position. They had to choose or to subordinate so called Rome CatholicSpiritual Council in Petersburg or stay by the Apostolic See side. Bishop Konstanty Łubieński isacknowledged as the first Victim of that repressions.Outlook upon history of persecutions, which is presented, shows not only Church but pointsout harmful consequences Russia’s politics in the Church and society of the Polish Kingdom. Citedarchival source lets us know way of looking and analysing history during 1861−1869 by Frenchdiplomats.


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