BishopAccountability.org
	View Sex Abuse Cases in the Proper Context Milwaukee Journal Sentinel January 6, 2011 http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/113040784.html It's no secret that the Milwaukee Catholic Archdiocese has been plagued by a wave of child sex abuse claims and lawsuits in recent years. In the past, Archbishop Emeritus Rembert Weakland reportedly shredded reports of sexual abuse. In 2010, Milwaukee was at the center of a decades-old scandal many tried to pin on Pope Benedict XVI. And according to Archbishop Jerome Listecki, the archdiocese has paid more than $29 million in costs associated with sexual abuse cases over the past 20 years. Grim, right? Yet too many take the lapsed-Catholic route, as if the sins of individual priests affect the doctrine itself. In truth, it's only fair to examine the problems of the Milwaukee Archdiocese - and the Catholic Church in the United States - in its proper context. For starters, despite cloak-and-dagger stories and all the claims of "secrecy," the Catholic Church has been the only religious organization to release its own information about abuse. A 2010 Newsweek report ranked a study by John Jay College, authorized and funded by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, as "the only hard data that has been made public by any denomination." It's certainly hard data to swallow: The report found that between 1950 and 1992, 4% of 110,000 active priests were accused of sexual misconduct with children. That's 4% too high, of course. But Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, told Newsweek, "we don't see the Catholic Church as a hotbed of this (sexual abuse) or a place that has a bigger problem than anyone else." Additionally, Allen noted that he conservatively estimates the rate of sexual abuse among the general male population, which he calls "profoundly prevalent," at 10%. That's not all. Charol Shakeshaft of Hofstra University researched sexual abuse at public schools for the U.S. Department of Education. Her conclusion? "The physical sexual abuse of students in schools is likely more than 100 times the abuse by priests." If you correctly argue that it's the coverup that makes the crime more heinous, consider Shakeshaft's findings that coverups were widespread, that in 226 sex abuse cases studied, only 1% were followed up by an administrator to ensure molestation did not recur. Despite these problems, CBS News reported that media stories of priest abuse have, at times, outnumbered stories of public school abuse 500 to 1. Through all of this, we see Listecki dutifully carrying the burden of past sins. While critics hound even the decision to pursue bankruptcy, the archbishop has to turn to the courts to establish a settlement fund that can pay the victims anything at all. In a national climate that often condemns Catholicism with special voracity for its sins, seeking bankruptcy must have been difficult. And despite all of the evidence that child sex abuse is rampant in institutions across the country, it was part of a burden Listecki and the Catholic Church as a whole are unduly carrying alone. Contact: comments@dankenitz.com
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