“Receding Waves: Child Sex Abuse and Homosexual Priests Since 2000” is a companion study to Fr. Sullins’ work last year on the subject of clerical sexual abuse.
The Ruth Institute released “Is Catholic clergy sex abuse related to homosexual priests?” last year; that study cast doubt on two widely-held assumptions about clerical sex abuse.
Male victimization and homosexual priests rose together through the 1980s and have since fallen together. These twin waves have largely receded. Female victimization has not fallen, persisting today at roughly the same level as in the 1980s.
Overall, clergy sexual abuse of minors is recently rising. The priest sexual abuse of children dropped to an all-time low just after 2002 but has since disturbingly risen, though it remains well below its peak in the 1980s. Reports of current abuse averaged 7.0 per year from 2005-09, rising to 8.2 per year from 2010-14, a 17% increase. In the 1980s, there were an average 26.2 reports of current abuse per year. (See Figures 2 and 6 in the main report.)
Since the 1960s, priests engaged in child sex abuse have been relatively concentrated in two age groups: one ordained in the late 1960s and the other ordained in the early 1980s.
The pattern of clergy abuse of minors in the twentieth century closely tracks the estimates of numbers of self-identified homosexual clergy. Fewer homosexual clergy roughly equals fewer cases of clergy sexual abuse.
What can we do?
Catholics must remain vigilant in protecting all minors against clerical sexual abuse.
The Church or interested scholars and lay organizations should conduct further research on clergy self-description of their patterns of sexual attraction and behavior.
The Church or interested lay organizations should increase educational programs on authentic Church teaching on human sexuality. Such educational efforts should include all levels of education such as seminaries, universities, high schools, elementary schools, and parish catechism classes. The topics covered should include Pope St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body and how traditional Christian sexual ethics promotes and promotes the interests of children, women, men, and society.
The Ruth Institute is a global non-profit organization equipping Christians to defend their beliefs about the family, to create a culture of lifelong married love.
We’ve responded to the latest round of clergy sex abuse revelations by encouraging the laity to do two things:
Only by doing both of these can we put an end to the scourge of clergy sexual abuse.
The Ruth Institute would like to thank retired journalist G.R. Pafumi for sharing his data, described in our report as the SACCADAS database. Pafumi’s research is available by inquiry at VictimsSpeakDB.wordpress.com.
For more information or to schedule an interview with Dr. Morse or Dr. Sullins, contact: media@ruthinstitute.org
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Also available: the web presentation, PDF, and data from Dr. Sullins’ first study on clergy sex abuse.
© 2021, Ruth Institute
