IOWA
Press-Citizen
By Kristen Schorsch
Iowa City Press-Citizen
About 75 Iowans and people from neighboring states are expected to attend a religious sexual abuse conference this weekend in Iowa City.
Hosted at Faith United Church of Christ, 1609 Deforest Ave., the two-day conference aims to open the door when it comes to talking about sexual abuse in the church.
"I think we hope that this will allow people to feel like they can speak about this," said Norman Johnson, president of Iowa City Call to Action, which is one of four groups sponsoring the event. "I think it's been a problem that people are just not comfortable telling their stories because they feel that they're going to be judged for this."
Based on Catholic Church surveys, about 12,000 people nationwide have been victims of religious sexual abuse, said David Clohessy, executive director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. However, Clohessy said he thought the number of victims was higher.
According to the Diocese of Davenport, 53 victims have made 60 allegations against 19 priests from 1950 to Feb. 25, 2004.