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	Deliver US from Evil By Beni Bevly Overseas Think Tank for Indonesia July 6, 2007 http://www.overseasthinktankforindonesia.com/?p=166 "I made up my mind. There is no God. I do not believe in God. These rules, they were made up by men," said a father of the victim of pedophile priest in Deliver Us from Evil (2006), the unsettling Oscar-nominated documentary from filmmaker Amy Berg that investigates the life of 30-year pedophile Father Oliver O'GradyFather Oliver O'Grady and exposes the corruption inside the Catholic Church that allowed him to abuse countless children. When I was watching this film several days ago, I was touched by what the victim's father said. That's why I dare myself to write this issue even though this film was produced last year. While watching this film, I questioned my self, why did pedophile and clergy sexual abuse take place at the sacred institutions such as Catholic churches that supposed to protect its children and deliver them from evil? One of the elements, is that because the Catholic priests practice the mandatory celibacy? Will marriage solve the problem? Prior discussing the above questions, let's see what Amy Berg presented in her "Delivering Us from Evil." She revealed the following data: First, over 100,000 victims of clergy sexually abuses have come forward in the United States alone. Experts say more than 80% of sexual victims never report their abuse. Second, since 1950, sexual abuse has cost the church over one billion dollars in legal settlements and expenses. More than that, this documentary film also shows how these priests also destroyed people's faiths and beliefs painfully. Third, Cardinal Roger Mahony who is currently serves as the fourth Archbishop of Los Angeles is still fighting sexual abuse allegations against 556 priests in his diocese (The John Jay Report found accusations against 4,392 priests in the USA, about 4% of all priests). Fourth, Pope Benedict XVI was accused of conspiracy to cover up sexual abuse in the United States. At the Vatican's request, President Bush granted the Pope immunity from prosecution. Recalling and answering the above questions, there are some speculations collected as follow: One, a report submitted to the Synod of Bishops in Rome in 1971, called The Role of the Church in the Causation, Treatment and Prevention of the Crisis in the Priesthood by Dr. Conrad Baars, a Dutch-born Catholic psychiatrist from Minnesota, and based on a study of 1500 priests, suggested that some clergy had "psychosexual" problems. It is a matter of speculation as to how much of the Catholic Church's mishandling of sex abuse cases was influenced by such problems. Two, Catholic doctrines outlined below (Other Catholic Teachings, Practices) and this understaffing combine, it has been claimed, to make Catholic clergy extraordinarily valuable. It is alleged that the Catholic hierarchy acted to preserve the number of clergy and ensure that they were still available to supply priestly services, in the face of serious allegations that these priests were unfit for duty. Three, it has been suggested that the discipline of celibacy in the Catholic priesthood offers a means by which priests with sexual urges that are aimed towards children rather than adults can hide those tendencies, their lack of sexual feelings towards adults being unnoticeable in a completely unmarried clergy. It is believed that those with a predisposition toward child molestation would be drawn to the celibate lifestyle due to confusion about their sexual identity or orientation. There have also been suggestions that those who are already child molesters, either already acting or on the verge of acting on their disposition, deliberately enter the Catholic clergy due to the "cover" its celibacy provides, and since clergy may have frequent access to children. Four, The Center for the Study of Religious Issues (CSRI), the research division of CITI Ministries (an anti-celibacy advocacy organization), published a book about quantitative studies 1999-2004, which argues that a connection exists between mandatory celibacy and sexual abuse. Based on her research, the author states: "The evidence is so strong that we can predict a continuation of the crime as long as mandatory celibacy exists in the priesthood." According to the CSRI, it is true that the mandatory celibacy also causes the Catholic priests become pedophile and sexually abusive. In this case, it seems marriage will solve the problem. What do you think?
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