Church Sponsored Abuse Study under Fire, by Yvonne Beltzer and Vikki Vargas, NBC LA, May 18, 2011

Church Sponsored Abuse Study under Fire

By Yvonne Beltzer and Vikki Vargas
NBC LA
May 18, 2011

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Church-Sponsored-Abuse-Study-Under-Fire-122199784.html

A church-sponsored study on priest child abuse has come under fire --with some critics even calling the report a "white-wash."

The $2 million study was paid in half by the U.S. Conference on Catholic Bishops and was conducted by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

A group that represents victims of clergy abuse claimed bishops continue to cover up these crimes and the shame leaves many more victims ashamed and silent.

The study claimed there is no single cause of priest sexual abuse and that the problem is largely historical --an artifact of the excesses of the sixties and seventies.

Study researcher Karen Terry also alleged the rate of abuse within the church at that time was comparable to abuse in other organizations such as schools and clubs.

"The social influences of the time intersected with the preparation for celibacy which was inadequate at that time," she said.

She added, however, that church specific factors that were constant during that time such as celibacy were not the cause of the abuse crisis.

David Clohessy, the executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), claimed the bishops have funded a report that tells them exactly what they want to hear.

"The reason this crisis is happening in the church is because the criminals are hidden and coddled and promoted rather than ousted as in other institutions," Clohessy said.

Terry denied the report had bias toward the church.

She said researchers relied not only on information from the church, but also from victims and treatment centers.

Ryan DiMaria, an Irvine attorney who was the first plaintiff to settle an abuse claim with the Diocese of Orange, said the biggest reason for the problem in the first place was the cover up.

"One of the hardest things I had to learn was that my perpetrator had abused others for decades before," he told NBC4 LA.

Terry expressed a similar theme at a news conference today in Washington, DC, noting the Church hierarchy mishandled abuse cases in the past --paying more attention to the perpetrators than the victims.

She insisted only five percent of abusive priests were actually pedophiles. Instead, they were unprepared while in the seminary for a life of celibacy.

SNAP member Barbara Blaine also rejected the theory that the priests were influenced by the lifestyle of the sixties and seventies.

"In the 60's and 70's, everyone knew that raping children was a crime and church officials could have and should have reported it to police," she said.