The Issue of Sexual Abuse in The Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church, started by Jesus in the first century A.D, once had to hide their practices out of fear of the Emperor, has grown over the centuries into a monolithic organization of epic proportions. A group that was started by one man and his followers has developed into the largest branch of Christianity with over 1.2 billion citizens spread out across every country and continent on the planet. This religion by some standards may seem untouchable, it is the wealthiest and most powerful in the world, it even owns its own country. However, like every organization, it has its secrets. The dark secrets of the Catholic Church had been concealed behind the Holy Doors of St. Peter’s Basilica until someone decided to speak up. After that, the secrets of the church poured out of the parishes like the blood of Christ into the chalice for communion. Nonetheless, this scandal was not one that could go away with a statement or prayer by the pontiff. No, these secrets cast a dark shadow upon the Catholic empire, these secrets turned the holy water black with deceit. It had been unearthed that Catholic priests and other church officials had been sexually abusing young children for decades. These different cases of abuse range from minor groping to frenzy of rape. These attacks were not just one in a million cases, Madison Park for CNN wrote an article titled “Timeline: A Look at the Catholic Church’s Sex Abuse Scandals”. She found that there are some countries reporting that at least 7% of all Catholic priests in the nation had abused a child at least once during their priesthood. The Catholic Church has tried to fix the problem, but, they just pay off the victim’s and ostracized the ones who do not accept the settlement. 

Sexual abuse in the Catholic Church is not something that has just recently started, it has just only recently surfaced. Sexual abuse has been going on for hundreds of years, Reverend Thomas P. Doyle – who is an American priest in the Dominican Order – wrote an article titled “A Very Short History of Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church” which describes the history of sexual abuse within the Catholic church. The first account of sexual abuse against a minor by a member of the clergy was in the 8th century, because of that Bebe wrote The Penitential of Bede, which told members of that clergy that if they were involved in a sexual relationship with a minor and it was found out, they would face severe punishment and loss of ranking within the church. The Penitential of Bede remained the laws for clergy abuse from the 8th century until the 12th century (2 Doyle). However, the most starling denouncing of clergy abuse came from St. Peter Damian in his book Liber Gomorrhianus or Book of Gomorrah, in this book he condemns those who have engaged in homosexual activities and states that priests who have defiled underage boys should not be ordained or should be removed from Holy Orders. Another attempt to stop clergy men’s sexual relations was by demanding all priests be celibate. This practice became mandatory in the year 1139, though it was widely unused. Clergymen having sexual relations with a married woman or underage boys were very common (2 Doyle). It has also been reported that same-sex activities were commonly associated with Catholic Priests. Clergy celibacy was struck with a major blow during the protestant reform, during the reform many monks fought against mandatory celibacy, they did not see the need for such laws when they were not being followed by any member of the church (2 Doyle). This was until Pope Pius V, he heavily enforced clergy celibacy and would punish any priests that broke the law. Homosexual abuse between priests and minors remained toned down for the next few centuries, this was until 1985 in Henry, Louisiana. 

The first sexual abuse case brought against the Catholic church in the modern century came to light in Henry, LA in 1985, when Fr. Gauthe was accused of molestation. This case swung the doors open to what was really going on within the church. This case was not the first and it certainly was not the last. An CBS News writer known as AP wrote an article titled “Vatican Reveals How Many Priests Defrocked for Sex Abuse since 2004”, in this article AP reports that since 2004, over 3400 cases of sexual abuse have been reported to the Catholic Church (AP 4). These 3400 cases range from all over the world. 7% of all Catholic Priests in Australia have been accused of sexual assault, and the Netherlands reported that over 800 priests had abused thousands of children. There have been reported cases of priests sexually abusing minors in Australia, Ireland, England, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Chile, Austria, Germany, Spain, and Switzerland, and these are just the reported cases. Growing up as a child in a large Italian Catholic family I was taught at a young age the history of my religion, and how the only thing above family should be faith. However, I was only shown the picture-perfect image of the church, not the true one. This is not the religion I grew up with, this is the real Catholic Church. Many people – including myself – wonder how things could escalate to this degree, and why didn’t people say anything? Here is what happened. 

Dr. Mary Gail Frawley-O’Dea, who has a doctorate in phycology, and specializes in sexual abuse victims, wrote an article titled “The History and Consequences of the Sexual-Abuse Crisis in the Catholic Church” which detailed what the average sexual abuse case looked like. Normally a new priest would arrive at a parish or school, the priest would usually be fresh out of the rectory and would bring a sense of youth to the church. This priest would soon become heavily involved in church-related activities involving minors, and often develop a relationship between these minors, who were commonly boys between the ages of 11-15 and came from a troubled family. As time goes on and the child develops a trusting relationship with the priest, the relationship turns into a sexual one with the minor doing whatever the priest says because that is what they were taught. If the victim or victim’s family decides to speak up and go to the church, the church will have a few options. The first option is that the priest will be sent back to the rectory where he confesses and assures the church that he would never sin again. After some psychological treatment, he is most commonly sent to a new parish or school, without anyone there having prior knowledge of his abuse, and the cycle starts all over again (Dr. Mary Gail Frawley-O’Dea 3). Another option that church has is to promise that the priest will never abuse another minor again and settle with the victims for some amount of money. After this, the father either goes to a nursing home or is laicized. The priest then gets to live his life out with a stipend by the church or in a nice nursing home, with very few repercussions for his actions. However, this is only what happened to the priests that were reported. In many cases, the priest would sexually abuse a few victims at one time and would do so until he lost satisfaction, or the child left the school. After this, the child would not speak of the events that occurred out of embarrassment and fear of being humiliated.

In her article “The History and Consequences of the Sexual-Abuse Crisis in the Catholic Church” Dr. Dr. Mary Gail Frawley-O’Dea wrote about one man was brave enough to share his story and the abuse that happened to him at the hands of a priest. The abuse first started happening when he was eight years old, he had just become an altar boy at his local parish. He does this, so he can escape his parents who are struggling with marital issues and alcoholism. After his first mass, the priest is congratulating him on how well he did and how proud his family must be (Dr. Mary Gail Frawley-O’Dea 3). The priest offers to help him remove his cassock. While doing so the priest rapes the boy, and when he is finished he tells the young boy that it is normal for a priest to do that and that the boy should be honored he received such a blessing (Dr. Mary Gail Frawley-O’Dea 3). This abuse goes on for the next three years with the boy being so scared to say anything and being under the assumptions that the sexual acts performed against him are normal. The abuse even goes as far as to the boy’s parents allowing him to spend the summer with the priest. His parents believe the priest is just doing a nice deed and helping a child in need of guidance (Dr. Mary Gail Frawley-O’Dea 3). According to the boy, his summer spent with the priest was one longed orgy performed against the boy’s wishes (Dr. Mary Gail Frawley-O’Dea 3). The abuse continued throughout the next few years, with the priest removing him from classes or grabbing him in the hallway so that they can go into a closet or empty classroom and perform sexual deeds (Dr. Mary Gail Frawley-O’Dea 3). This abuse happened to the boy until one day when he was eleven, he was walking down to hallway when the priest grabbed him and dragged him into a closet, as he was about to rape the boy, the boy finally ran away, and he was never abused again. This is just one story of thousands of young boys abused at the hands of the priest. However, it is not always boys that are the ones being abused. 

Nicky Davis, wrote on Snap.org – which is a website dedicated to priest abuse victims stories – a letter which she titled “Letter to Pope Benedict”. Inside of this letter she talks about how she was sexually abused by her local parish priest from the age of 6 until 12. She sadly was not his only victim (Davis 5). While growing up, she had no parental support to help her through this abuse, no counseling, and no adult that she could trust. When she turned 18 she told her story, instead of protecting her, the Australian police and the Vatican decided to protect themselves and the priest (Davis 5). She then decided she would write a letter to Pope Benedict XVI and try to gain his attention. She had seen him speak about sexual assault victims when he visited Sydney, but she saw through his lies and realized his apologies were nothing more than a PR move (Davis 5). She wrote the letter to tell his holiness that his one weak apology will not help the thousands of children around the world who have been sexually abused by church officials (Davis 5). She is also demanding that the Vatican help the victims through paying for counseling, making a true statement, and removing any priest accused of sexual assault from the priesthood (Davis 5). Her demands were not met and many victims still feel like they have not received a true apology from the church. Sexual Abuse against children in the Catholic Church is something that hits somewhat close to home. I have a family member who was abused at the hands of a priest. His father died when he was young and his local parish’s priest stood up and decided to help the young boy out. His mother was overjoyed that the boy would have a father figure in his life again, but what his mother did not know was that behind closed doors the priests was sexually abusing the boy and his brothers. When they finally gained enough confidence to tell their mother, she stood by their side all the way to the office of the Archbishop. Instead of delivering sympathy, the archbishop yelled at them for creating such fallacies against the priest. In the end, they received compensation, but it was not about the money, they wanted responsibility from the church over what had happened. 

The Vatican of course responded to these claims of abuse, at first, they were very sympathetic, but once it came clear that it could affect their reputation, they started to cover for themselves and the abusers. At the height of the abuse reports in the early 2000s, the then pope, Pope John Paul II, gave a speech to cardinals when visiting the United States in 2002. In his address, he starts out by saying” I too have been deeply grieved by the fact that priests and religious, whose vocation it is to help people live holy lives in the sight of God, have themselves caused such suffering and scandal to the young.”(Pope John Paul II 6) This quote very much seems like he is siding with the victims, but as usual the tone of his address changes. He goes on to mention that there is not enough knowledge on the subject for him to make a definite opinion on the topic (Pope John Paul II 6). As the address continues he compares the Catholic Church to a painting with a blemish by stating “A great work of art may be blemished, but its beauty remains.” (Pope John Paul II 6) In the end, he does address the fact that the Catholic Church has a problem protecting minors, but he moves on to mention that this problem does not stem from the church itself but from society (Pope John Paul II 6). This speech was not for the victims or anyone affected by sexual abuse, all that this speech did was to have the Vatican acknowledge the fact and have to Pope say a blessing in hopes that people will accept that as apology. 

The problem of the Vatican not accepting responsibility for what they have done did not just stop when Pope John Paul II died, it was passed onto his successor, Pope Benedict XVI. In an official pastoral letter released by Pope Benedict XVI to the Catholics of Ireland. The Pontiff says that he is disturbed about the information regarding the sexual abuse in the church and the churches reactions towards the cases (Pope Benedict XVI 7). He mentions that he met with officials from the Irish Catholic church in Rome and helped teach those ways to handle this situation (Pope Benedict XVI 7). As the statement continues he references the importance of Catholicism inside of an Irish house. However, he talks about how these assaults are a result of people’s lack of attending church, confession, or church-related retreats (Pope Benedict XVI 7). He also mentions that these assaults have weakened people’s faith in the church and its teachings. He ends the statement by writing a personal message to the children affected, the priests, the parents, and to the faithful people of Ireland (Pope Benedict XVI 7). In this statement, he says that all the wrong that has happened can be healed through prayer and that the priests are able to redeem themselves in the eyes of God through prayer. The Vatican crafted the same statement for him as they did for Pope John Paul II. The Vatican always begins their statements by expressing their sympathy for those affected and mentions how the victims are in their prayers. But then they turn around and bash the victims, by telling them the “real” reason why they were abused. The Vatican does this so that it can come across like they have delivered a statement condemning these attacks, but, they are just protecting themselves. 

However, the Catholic Church has recently gotten a new Pope, who is more progressive and liberal than others in the past. The BBC’s David Willey wrote an article addressing the Pope Francis’s comment, when he asks for forgiveness for child abuse by clergy members. Pope Francis has been vocal about sexual assault, and how during his time as Pope he has set up a committee to deal with sexual abuse within the church (Willey 8). He has also asked for forgiveness for the evil damages children have faced, and unlike the pre-successors, he is in favor of imposing sanctions against priests accused of sexual abuse (Willey 8). With all that he is doing, it seems like Pope Francis is putting the past of the church behind him, and finally, there will be a formal apology from the Vatican. However, the NY Times Pascale Bonnefoy and Austin Ramzy wrote an article titled “Pope’s Defense of Chilean Bishop in Sex Abuse Scandal Causes Outrage”. Which reported that while in Chile, Pope Francis made remarks that expressed his opposition to sexual assault allegations made against Archbishop Juan Barros Madrid. Archbishop Barros was supposedly complicit with Rev. Fernando Karadima crimes against children, victims have said that Archbishop Barros was with Rev. Karadima during their assaults. Even though victims have come out and spoken against Barros, his holiness is still firm on his belief and has said until someone brings him evidence anyone who accuses Barros is “dumb” (Bonnefoy and Ramzy 9). In 2015, Pope Francis appointed him Bishop of Osorno, a move that caused much anger within Chilean Catholics (Bonnefoy and Ramzy 9). After the Pope’s support towards an accused sexual predator, many people within the church have retracted their statements on Barros and say that they believe anything the pope believes. This move caused displeasure with Anne Barrett Doyle, who is the co-chair of Bishopaccountability.org, an organization that monitors sexual assault within the church. She said that “He has just turned back the clock to the darkest days of this crisis”. “Who knows how many victims now will decide to stay hidden, for fear they will not be believed?” (Bonnefoy and Ramzy 9). It is starting to seem like the Vatican invented the expression one step forward two steps back, whenever it seems like there is light at the end of the tunnel, somebody just closes the door and leaves the world in pitch black. 

As you would probably assume all these cases of sexual abuse have damped ppeople’soutlook on the Catholic Church, and the Catholic churches rank in the world. A poll conducted by Gallup’s David Moore showed the “reaction of Devout Catholics to Sexual Abuse Scandal”. In 2002, 73% of all devout Catholics polled believed that the church was doing a bad job when it came to handling the sexual assault allegations (Moore 10). 74% of devout Catholics polled believed that the church is more concerned about protecting its image than helping the victims (Moore 10). However, only 50% of Catholics polled believe that the Catholic Church has a widespread sexual assault issue (Moore 10). This article also compared southern catholic to the rest of America Catholics, they found that southern Catholics are a lot less critical of the church than the rest of America. Only 59% percent of southern Catholics believe the church is doing a bad job. Also, 69% percent of southern Catholics believe the church is more concerned about its image than helping the victims (Moore 10). And finally, 46% of southern Catholics believe the church has a widespread sexual assault issue (Moore 10). The numbers do not lie, people are starting to see past the Vatican’s weak apologies and lies. 

Because of these accusations of sexual assault by high ranking church officials, many people feel like the Vatican and the Pope should be held personally accountable, in the eyes of restitution, and criminal punishment. Jo Renee Formicola who is a professor of political science at Seton Hall University, wrote an article titled “Catholic Clerical Sexual Abuse: Effects on Vatican Sovereignty and Papal Power”. Which talked about the different legal cases brought against the Catholic Church. These cases have reached some of the highest courtrooms in our nation, the Sixth District Court of Appeals, Ninth District Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court. The two main court cases have been O’Bryan V. Holy See and Doe V. Holy See, these cases call into questions the Vatican’s handling of sexual abuse cases. They also call into question the Vatican’s sovereignty and the Pope’s power. The plaintiff in both cases is calling for the Vatican and pope to accept full responsibility for the assault, removal of high ranking church officials accused of sexual assault, and compensation for legal fees and emotional damage. While I do not see soon Pope Francis sitting in a courtroom testifying, I do believe that the Catholic Church should be held accountable. The abuse happened on their property, by their employees, they need to do what is right and pay for the victims, release a formal apology, and banish all priests who have been accused of sexual abuse. 

With many people seeking punishment for the priests accused of sexual abuse, something that has been called into question is redemption inside of the Catholic Church, and the churches hypocrisy when it comes to redemption. In an article written by Anthony DePalma, who is a journalist for the New York Times for the past 22 years, wrote an article titled “Redrafting the Church’s Rules on Redemption” where he talks about how two of the pillars of the Roman Catholic Church is forgiveness and redemption, and how the church is not always consistent when it comes to those topics (DePalma 12). In the early days of the church, many believed that once a person had sinned the only way they could be forgiven was through a second baptism, thus rebirthing themselves. However, St. Augustine changed that and made it so that people could be forgiven if they went through penance and humiliation. The history of the church and its ideals of redemption came under the light by the American Bishops coming together and creating a system for priests accused of sexual assault. They came to the decision that priests who were accused once will be allowed to stay, but those who were accused twice will be asked to leave. Those accused of abuse against a minor will not be allowed to say mass in front of the public but can in private, and a priest accused of molestation shall automatically be laicized. Others say that we should not be giving the priests any redemption at all and we should have one strike you are out policy. This plan has been met with many contradictions, with some saying taking the priest out of the priesthood over one abuse would effectively kill them. However, the main question is, how can a church build on redemption not offer its own people the same? Should the priests be offered the same redemption the church offers others? I do not think so, the priests knew exactly what they were doing and should not be offered to option of redemption, they should be criminally punished. By some people’s standards if a murder seeks redemption he should be forgiven for the people’s lives he took, now I do realize that sexual abuse and murder are very different crimes, but nobody should be offered redemptions no madder who they are once they have committed a sin punishable by the law. 

The Catholic Church has been around for thousands of years and will most likely be around for thousands more. The reason is that even though these sexual abuse cases may seem like the end of the church, they have been through much worse and survived. Maybe the church will not change its way, or maybe they will. However, the victims need answers and they need closure, the Catholic church can no longer say a prayer and hope everything goes away. Because they are not only insulting themselves, but they are insulting true Catholics, whose entire life revolves around the church. True Catholics like my great-grandmother who did the rosary more than 5 times a day and my aunt who attended Church every single day. I can only hope that the Catholic Church can change its ways and starts to no longer accept child molesters as one of them.