Sexual abuse of young boys in the Roman Catholic Church

2020 ◽  
pp. 7-47
Author(s):  
Jay R. Feierman
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church

scholarly journals Bad Apples, Bad Barrel: Exploring Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse by Catholic Clergy in Australia

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 94-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jodi Death
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Catholic Clergy ◽  
Institutional Power ◽  
Institutional Responses ◽  
Institutional Abuse ◽  
Cover Up

This paper considers constructions of institutional culture and power in the cover-up of child sexual abuse (CSA) by clergy in the Roman Catholic Church of Australia. The issue of cover-up has previously been considered in international inquiries as an institutional failing that has caused significant harm to victims of CSA by Catholic Clergy. Evidence given by select representatives of the Catholic Church in two government inquiries into institutional abuse carried out in Australia is considered here. This evidence suggests that, where cover-up has occurred, it has been reliant on the abuse of institutional power and resulted in direct emotional, psychological and spiritual harm to victims of abuse. Despite international recognition of cover-up as institutional abuse, evidence presented by Roman Catholic Representatives to the Victorian Inquiry denied there was an institutionalised cover-up. Responding to this evidence, this paper queries whether the primary foundation of cover-up conforms to the ‘bad apple theory’ in that it relates only to a few individuals, or the ‘bad barrel theory’ of institutional structure and culture.

The Unmaking of a Pedophilic Priest: Transnational Clerical Sexual Abuse in Guatemala

2020 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 745-769
Author(s):  
Kevin Lewis O'Neill
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Subject Formation ◽  
Ample Evidence ◽  
Opposite Process ◽  
Empirical Point ◽  
Ontological Sense ◽  
Mandated Therapy

AbstractThroughout the second half of the twentieth century, Latin America became something of a dumping ground for U.S. priests suspected of sexual abuse, with north-to-south clerical transfers sending predatory priests to countries where pedophilia did not exist in any kind of ontological sense. This article, in response, engages the case of Father David Roney of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota. After a career of accusations and payouts, with Roney entering and exiting Church-mandated therapy programs, Bishop Raymond Lucker retired this notoriously predatory priest to rural Guatemala in 1994. By placing Roney beyond the reach of psychiatrists, psychologists, and spiritual directors, the Roman Catholic Church leveraged a psychological and juridical difference between two geographical settings in order to render the pedophilia of this priest effectively non-existent, thereby insulating itself from further reputational damage and additional litigation. Given that the Roman Catholic Church has long been an empirical point of reference for studies of subject formation—from pastoralism and mysticism to ritual and the confession—this article adds that the Church also provides ample evidence of an opposite process: of unmaking people.

Different Contexts of Sexual Abuse With a Special Focus on the Context of Christian Institutions: Results From the General Population in Germany

2019 ◽  
pp. 088626051988854 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Witt ◽  
Elmar Brähler ◽  
Paul L. Plener ◽  
Jörg M. Fegert
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
The United States ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
German Population ◽  
Childhood Trauma Questionnaire ◽  
Vast Number

Recent revelations of the extent of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church in Germany and the United States have once more triggered the debate about sexual abuse. Those inquiries identify cases that are known to authorities or have been recorded in these institutions. However, to assess the full magnitude of the problem, data beyond recorded or known cases are needed, as it can be assumed that a vast number of cases are not reported and are hence not included in such file reviews. Therefore, representative surveys are needed. The aim of the present study was to examine the prevalence of sexual abuse by priests and in different contexts in the German population based on a representative sample. A total of 2,510 participants (54.3% female, M = 48 years) were retrospectively asked about different experiences, offenders, contexts, and so on, of child sexual abuse using questions that were used to assess child sexual abuse in prior surveys and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). In sum, 0.21% ( n = 7) of the participants reported child sexual abuse by a priest or pastor. 0.16% reported child sexual abuse in an institution of the Roman Catholic Church. Results also indicated that victims of sexual abuse by priests and pastors reported rather severe types of sexual abuse based on the CTQ in comparison with other contexts, such as schools. Extrapolating the data for the population, it can be assumed that the estimated number of victims is much higher than those identified by research based on recorded cases.

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