Sexual Abuse Scandal

The sexual abuse scandal that engulfed the Catholic Church from the late 1990’s undermined public confidence in the priesthood and gravely weakened the financial structure of the Church throughout the industrialized world. In 2004 alone, according to a report by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, some 1,083 credible new allegations of sexual abuse had been lodged against 756 priests and deacons. By the end of 2006, it is estimated that the financial cost of the sexual abuse scandal had already reached more than $1.5 billion with a significant number of cases yet to be settled. As of 2008, experts estimate that it may eventually cost more than $3 billion to settle outstanding cases in the United States alone.

In spite of the attempts by some Vatican officials to portray clergy sexual abuse as a uniquely American problem, the reality is that it has had a serious impact in numerous other countries including Poland, Canada, Italy, England, France, Australia, and Honduras, where Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez of Tegucigalpa has been accused of shielding the Rev. Enrique Vásquez, a known sexual offender.

In Ireland, the crisis began with revelations regarding Bishop Eamon Casey of Galway in 1992. It seems that Casey had fathered a son with a distant relative and then used Church funds to buy her silence. As of October 2000, according to figures compiled by the Catholic Communications Office, forty-eight clergy had been convicted of child sexual abuse in Ireland between 1983 and 2000, with 450 cases pending in the Dublin Archdiocese alone. A 2005 report issued by Justice Frank Murphy on the small diocese of Ferns in County Wexford indicates that clergy sexual abuse was also rampant in rural areas. The report details how between twenty-one and twenty-eight priests used their access to schools to rape and sodomize dozens of young boys. In what was a typical pattern of cover-up by members of the hierarchy, the report accuses two previous Bishops of Ferns of shielding and even promoting abusive priests even though they were well aware of the situation.

Serious Vatican efforts to deal with the sexual abuse problem date from 2002. In that year, a meeting of bishops issued the so-called Dallas Charter, which essentially called for the immediate removal of any priest with one allegation of sexual abuse against him. Nevertheless as late as 2006, Chicago’s Cardinal George had failed to remove two priests from ministering to the faithful even after his office became aware of serious allegations against them. It appears, therefore, that lingering paternalism in the relationship between priests and their bishops as well as ongoing court cases in the United States and other countries will keep the spotlight on clergy sexual abuse for some time to come, with incalculable effects on the relationship between the clergy and laity.

More information:   Wikipedia