John Jay College Reports No Single Cause, Predictor of Clergy Abuse in United States
A landmark study by researchers at John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City
University of New York, which examined the causes and context of the clergy sexual
abuse crisis in the U.S. Catholic Church, concluded that there was no single cause
or predictor of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy. The report added that that situational
factors and opportunity to abuse played a significant role in the onset and continuation
of abusive acts.
“The bulk of cases occurred decades ago,” said Karen Terry,
PhD., John Jay’s principal investigator for the report. “The increased frequency of
abuse in the 1960s and 1970s was consistent with the patterns of increased deviance
of society during that time.” She also stated that “social influences intersected
with vulnerabilities of individual priests whose preparation for a life of celibacy
was inadequate at that time.” Terry also said that neither celibacy nor homosexuality
were causes of the abuse, and that priest candidates who would later abuse could not
be distinguished by psychological test data, developmental and sexual history data,
intelligence data, or experience in priesthood. The development of human formation
components of seminary preparation for priesthood is associated with the continued
low levels of child sexual abuse by Catholic priests in the United States, she said.
The Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the
United States, 1950-2010 report by a John Jay College research team was made public
May 18 in Washington. Terry presented the report to Diane Knight, CMSW, Chair of the
National Review Board, a group of lay Catholics who oversaw the project and to Bishop
Blase Cupich of Spokane, Washington, who chairs the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on the
Protection of Children and Young People.
The study also found that the initial,
mid-1980s response of bishops to allegations of abuse was to concentrate on getting
help for the priest-abusers. Despite the development by the mid-1990s of a comprehensive
plan for response to victims and the harms of sexual abuse, diocesan implementation
was not consistent or thorough at that time. Yet, the decrease in incidence of sexual
abuse cases by clergy was more rapid than the overall societal patterns.
Knight,
a social worker from Milwaukee, lauded the work of John Jay. “Through its extensive
processes of data collection and statistical analyses,” she said, “the researchers
found that the crisis of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests is an historical
problem.”
She added that “researchers also concluded that much of what has
been implemented through the Charter is consistent with a model response to the prevention
of child abuse. However, this in no way should lull us as a Church into complacency.”
The Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People was adopted by
the U.S. bishops in 2002 and has guided their response in dealing with sexual abuse
of minors by clergy.
Bishop Cupich found hope in the documented progress that
shows that “what we are doing works” in addressing child sexual abuse. He said that
the inability to predict individual sexual deviance “makes the safe environments programs
valuable and necessary.” He added that “the Catholic Church has taken a position of
zero tolerance of any cleric who would sexually abuse a child.”
“Such a position
protects children,” he said. “But it also protects the tens of thousands of priests
who have suffered greatly in this crisis, all the while quietly serving with honor
and self-sacrifice every day of their lives.”
The way forward for the bishops
must be marked by humility and partnerships with others, Bishop Cupich said. “The
shame of failing our people will remain with us for a long time. It should. Its sting
can keep us resolute in our commitments and humble so as to never forget the insight
we came to nearly a decade ago in Dallas. We cannot do any of this on our own.”
Established
in 1964, John Jay College of Criminal Justice of The City University of New York is
an international leader in educating for justice. It offers a rich liberal arts and
professional studies curriculum to upwards of 14,000 undergraduate and graduate students
from more than 135 nations. In teaching and research, the College approaches justice
as an applied art in service to society and as an ongoing conversation about fundamental
human desires for fairness, equality and the rule of law. (USCCB Media Office) Listen: