Why are there so many perverts amongst Catholic priests?

Answer 1

Another answer from our community:

Actually, there are very few priests who are pedophiles. Admittedly, even one is too many, but on the whole, most priests are good, religious Christians who would never even think of violating a youth. To put it in perspective, every other profession on record as a much higher percentage of pedophiles than the priesthood: teachers, athletic coaches, etc. To explain the difference you must understand that 1) the Catholic Church is considered an excellent target by the public and the media in general, and 2) the Catholic Church has a recognizable authority which is held responsible and lawyers can sue and get a lot of money from. Your son's Boy Scout leader, or gym teacher might be caught in a similar situation, but is not worth the millions that the lawyers can soak the Catholic faithful for. So when a Catholic priest violates his vows AND common decency to violate a youth, everyone goes bonkers just because they are held to a much higher standard than everyone else, and they are "employed" by the Church, from which people can get money. Over the past forty years or so, there have been a unprecedented number of priests charged with abuse, over the past forty years, the Church has averaged about 425,000 priests per year, that would be with between 5,000 and 7,000 new priest coming in each year, and the same number (approximately) retiring. Of that entire total, say 665,000 total priest for the time period, there have been 425 priests who have been convicted, which is much less than one percent.

Answer 2

The reason that a handful of priests molest children are because that up until the 1990's there were no backround checks on priests, anyone with a degree could join and that lead to a small percentage being child molesters. Cases of sexual abuse of priests were much more frequent in the last century than now. Also you'll here about priest abuse cases far more than any other religion because of the image they have set for themselves of being loving and caring which just makes a better news story.

Answer 3

They are not protected. In some cases in the past, when there was not enough evidence to 'fire' the priest, they were relocated. Today, once the evidence is gathered and if the priest is guilty, he receives no protection from the Church and civil authorities take over.

Answer 4

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Catholic AnswerActually there aren't, and for that matter, there never were more than less then the average for any vocation in the world. Admittedly, there should be much less in the holy priesthood. You have gotten that impression due to the modern media which tends to ignore scandal where it doesn't want to see it, and greatly advertise that where it does want to see it. If you pay close to attention to the latest news reports coming out about "perverts amongst priests" you will notice that anyone they are now accusing has been long dead, their accusers are "just now" remembering stuff that they think might have happened fifty years ago. I would read any of these things with a very jaundiced eye. And then notice if there is followup! Often accusations are published, and when, later, the dead priest accused is exonerated, that is not published.

Answer 5

Members of the Church hierarchy have an obligation, both ethically and under law to report to the civil authorities any suspected cases of paedophilia. Failure to do so is, in many jurisdictions, a criminal offence. The one arguable exception is if the offence becomes known in the confessional and no other information is available to the Church, even on discreet inquiry.

If information about suspected paedophilia is not passed on promptly to the police or other relevant secular authorities, then the perpetrator is indeed being protected by the Church, regardless of any employment sanctions imposed. Unfortunately, this is so often the case, as the following example shows.

An Australian priest, identified as 'Father F', admitted to three senior Catholic clergy that he had repeatedly sexually abused boys as young as ten years old. One of the priests to whom this confession was made, Father Wayne Peters, wrote a report to the responsible bishop, Bishop Kevin Manning. The matter was never reported to the police. When grounds for suspicion existed earlier, the priest was transferred to another diocese, and this meeting only took place because he continued to offend in his new parish.

It appears that at least two of the priest's victims received substantial payouts from the Church but, while this is welcome, it is not justice. Both committed suicide some years later. Cardinal Pell, in spite of recent Church history of child abuse and cover-up, has insisted that the priest did not make the admissions to the three senior clergy, saying that a file note of the meeting proved this to be the case. The file note has not been disclosed but the written report of that meeting, containing admissions of criminal abuse, is now in the public domain. One of the priests who attended the meeting, Father Brian Lucas, also says that he has not seen any record of the meeting, other than the letter which documents the criminal activity. He has justified the matter not being reported to the police because the evidence was not compelling enough to prosecute the offender, in spite of that decision properly lying with the police and the Prosecutor. To this date, Father F has suffered no penalty other than being banned from celebrating mass in 1992 and finally being defrocked in 2005.

Answer 6

Bishop Geoffrey Robinson (Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church) has first hand knowledge of the problem, having been appointed in 1994 by the Australian bishops to a position of leadership in responding to revelations of abuse. He says that sexual abuse of minors by a significant number of priests and religious, together with the attempts by many church authorities to conceal the abuse, constitute one of the ugliest stories ever to emerge from the Catholic Church. In this he is not casting all priests and religious, including himself, as paedophiles, but concedes a very significant problem which the Church tries to cover up and manage rather than resolve.

He says that all sexual abuse is, first and foremost an abuse of power. The priest has physical and spiritual power over the child, and the power to demand silence about the offences committed.

Mandatory celibacy is not the sole cause of sexual abuse by priests and religious, although it is a factor. The presence among the ranks of priests and religious of a number of persons with homosexual inclinations is also not the sole cause, or even a significant cause.

Offenders need to be able to charm potential victims and win their confidence. They can be model priests or religious in all other aspects of their lives.

Bishop Robinson believes that child abuse by priests, religious or anyone else is most likely to occur when three factors come together: an unhealthy psychological state, unhealthy ideas concerning power and sex, and an unhealthy environment or community in which the person lives.

The long-running Australian Royal Commission into the Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, with the power to compel evidence, is looking at the reasons for paedophilia in Australian churches (not limiting its scope to the Catholic Church), why there are systemic attempts to cover up the evidence and protect clergy, and what action should be taken to ensure the safety of children.

The Australian Royal Commission is beginning to realise the extent of the problem, announcing in February 2017 that 4444 victims had testified to sexual abuse by 1880 alleged perpetrators within the Catholic Church, including priests, religious brothers and sisters, and employees. It is understood that many more victims have not yet come forward with their stories and may never do so. Those who have testified made criminal allegations against over 40 per cent of Brothers of St John of God, as well as more than 20 per cent of Marist Brothers, Salesians of the Don Bosco and Christian Brothers, as well as more than 7 per cent of priests.

Clearly one reason that such an astonishingly high proportion of priests abuse children is that they are given positions of trust and power, making it easy to access vulnerable children. Another reason is that the Churches, especially the Catholic Church, have gone out off their way to protect and assist paedophiles within their ranks. It is easy to blame the victims, trivialise their complaints or allege that the real issue is money - until we read about the many cases of former victims committing suicide, self-harm or simply unable to cope with ordinary life.

Answer 7

The long-running Australian Royal Commission into the Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, with the power to compel evidence, is looking at the reasons for paedophilia in Australian churches (not limiting its scope to the Catholic Church), why there are systemic attempts to cover up the evidence and protect clergy, and what action should be taken to ensure the safety of children.
If we wish to understand this problem, we should never trivialise or underestimate its extent. The Royal Commission announced in February 2017 that 4444 victims had testified to sexual abuse by 1880 alleged perpetrators within the Catholic Church, including priests, religious brothers and sisters, and employees. It is understood that many more victims have not yet come forward with their stories and may never do so. Those who have testified made criminal allegations against over 40 per cent of Brothers of St John of God, as well as more than 20 per cent of Marist Brothers, Salesians of the Don Bosco and Christian Brothers, as well as more than 7 per cent of priests.

Evidence so far given to the Commission indicates that factors include mandatory celibacy, poor supervision, access to vulnerable children, and the spiritual and physical power that priests can wield. Abusive priests have often known that when they are reported, they will be transferred to parishes where they are not known, providing new fields for their debauchery.

Answer 8

Priest do not sexually attack people. Please clarify what do you want to know?