[web]https://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/ma ... ls-ireland[/web]
[align=center]<embed src="https://video.google.com/googleplayer.sw ... en&fs=true" width="600" height="500" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"> [/align]
This is a documentary called "Deliver Us From Evil". It's about a priest who abused children from the 70s right through to the 90s.
Irish child abuse scandal
The thing to ponder is whether it was the celibacy doctrine that led to this or if pedophiles were drawn to the priesthood because of the opportunities it afforded because statistically it can't be denied that priests were far far more likely to be undertaking in this behavior than the average person.
What statistics are you basing that on? According to stats I've seen, Catholic priests are, as a group, no more likely to abuse a child than representatives of any other religion. The reason for statistics seeming to relate to them particularly is because the stats are done on sectarian grounds - meaning that the multitude of Protestant faiths are counted as individual cases.
And what's an average person? You mean like the fathers, uncles and close family-friends who make up the vast majority of child-abusers?
And what's an average person? You mean like the fathers, uncles and close family-friends who make up the vast majority of child-abusers?
The figures vary from 4% or so to less. I am no apologist for any other christian sects but there was undeniably an horrendous unforgivable problem in many areas.
I was looking for reliable stats there on the interweb for you and came across this.
https://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=ma ... le=020741d
I was looking for reliable stats there on the interweb for you and came across this.
https://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=ma ... le=020741d
I find that pretty shocking comparing sexual harassment or affairs with adult parishioners as somehow comparable with raping children. It just goes to prove again that these people are the absolute last that anyone should be taking guidance or advice from in sexual matters.While much recent media hype has focused on the Catholic Church's pedophilia scandal, relatively little attention has been given to the high rate of sexual misconduct in the rest of American Christendom. This truly is a crisis that crosses all borders.
For example, research by Richard Blackmon at Fuller Theological Seminary shows that 12 percent of the 300 Protestant clergy surveyed admitted to sexual intercourse with a parishioner; 38 percent acknowledged other inappropriate sexualized contact. In a 1990 study by the United Methodist Church, 41.8 percent of clergy women reported unwanted sexual behavior by a colleague or pastor; 17 percent of laywomen said that their own pastors had sexually harassed them.
Obviously, this is not just a Catholic problem. And solutions must be broader and deeper than those carried out by Catholic cardinals. The whole church has a responsibility to offer decisive leadership in the area of sexual misconduct—whether it is child abuse, sexual exploitation, or sexual harassment.