BishopAccountability.org
	New Report Cites 60's Sexual Revolution in Catholic Church Scandal. By Jamie Ward WOWK May 19, 2011 http://wowktv.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=99758&catid=3 [with video] WHEELING -- Those who are victims of the Catholic Church sexual scandal over the past several years may feel victimized, once again, after hearing the results of a two million dollar study called the "John Jay" report. That's because the study doesn't put blame on the all-male celibate priesthood or homosexuality, but the sexual revolution of the 60's as the cause behind the scandal that's left the Catholic Church scrambling to control the damage.. It's been a decade since abuse scandals involving Roman Catholic priests started in Boston, costing the U.S. Church some $3 billion in settlements. The five year study was mainly funded by the bishops. The John Jay Study was commissioned back in 2006 and done by researchers at New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice who were to study both the nature and scope of the sexual abuse crisis. The Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston released this statement Thursday: "The release of the John Jay study today will help our Diocese and national leadership in parishes, schools and charitable organizations understand better the situational factors that led to abuse in the Catholic Church." According to the New York Times, the study points out that the abuse occurred because priests who were poorly prepared and monitored, and were under stress, landed amid the social and sexual turmoil of the 60's and 70's. The findings aren't sitting well with some of the more than 15,000 people who have filed claims of abuse in the last 60 years. Becky Ianni says she was abused by a priest as a child living in Virginia. "I feel like they're minimizing my own abuse and I feel like they're minimizing by saying well it was what was going on in the 60s and 70s." Locally, organizations are speaking out as well. Executive Director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, David Clohessy, says the report is full of fallacies and tells the bishops exactly what they want to hear. "It gives bishops even more reasons to avoid what they desperately want to avoid: questioning celibacy, married priests, secular laws, serious reforms or their own virtually limitless power as kings in a medieval monarchy." No other institution in the nation has undertaken a public study of sexual abuse. The Wheeling Charleston Diocese said it hopes the release of the study will help everyone to better understand situation factors that led to this abuse in the Catholic Church.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.