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Clergy Abuse: What Is to Be Done?

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Abstract

Why do some priests engage in the sexual abuse of children? What are the warning signs for parents? Is there a typical profile of priests who are more likely to engage in sexual abuse of children? What is to be done about clergy abuse? These questions have been addressed in this paper. Previous studies focused more on psychopathology, deviant opportunities, age, and the role of socialization in clergy abuse. This paper goes further by arguing that the initial psychological/psychiatric evaluation of applicants into seminaries is inadequate and that the educational curriculum of seminaries contributes to clergy abuse. Majority of Catholic priests involved in child sexual abuse suffered from psychiatric and psychological problems, were involved in substance abuse, suffered from endocrine disorders and were victims of childhood sexual and physical abuse themselves. This paper maintains that it is possible to predict a clergy who is more likely to engage in sexual misconduct. After reviewing data on some of the convicted priests, and some academic catalogs of Catholic seminaries, several recommendations are made.

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Notes

  1. Report 1 of the 40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury, REDACTED By order of PA Supreme Court. Office of Attorney General, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (August 14, 2018), p. 7.

  2. This report will be referred to as the PA Grand Jury Report (2018) in this paper.

  3. PA Grand Jury Report (2018).

  4. Ibid.

  5. Ibid.

  6. Thomas W. Haywood, Linda S. Grossman, Howard M. Kravitz, and Orest E. Waysliw, “Profiling Psychological Distortion in Alleged Child Molesters,” Psychological Reports 75 (1994): 915–927.

  7. John Allan Loftus, and Robert J. Camargo, “Treating the Clergy,” Annals of Sex Research 6 (1993): 287–303.

  8. Ibid.

  9. Thomas W. Haywood, Howard M. Kravitz, Linda S. Grossman, Orest E. Wasyliw, and Daniles W. Hardy, “Psychological Aspects of Sexual Functioning among Cleric and Noncleric Alleged Sex Offenders,” Child Abuse & Neglect 20, no. 6 (1996): 527–536.

  10. See, Ibid., p. 534.

  11. Ibid.

  12. R. Langevin, S. Curnoe, and J. Bain, “A study of Clerics who Commit Sexual Offenses: Are they Different from Other Sex Offenders?” Child Abuse & Neglect 24, no 4 (2000): 535–545.

  13. Ibid.

  14. Ibid., p. 535, 541.

  15. Ibid., p. 535, 542.

  16. Ibid., p. 539.

  17. PA Grand Jury Report (2018).

  18. Dan Stamm, “Clergy Already had to Report Sex Abuse to Law Enforcement in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware.” (2019). https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Clergy-Abuse-Mandatory-Reporting-509702311.html. Accessed July 12, 2019.

  19. John Jay College of Criminal Justice, “The Nature and Scope of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests and Deacons in the United States 1950–2002,” (Washington, D.C: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2004).

  20. Ibid.

  21. Ibid.

  22. Ibid., p. 4.

  23. PA Grand Jury Report (2018), p. 5.

  24. John Jay Report (2004), p. 5.

  25. Ibid.

  26. Ibid.

  27. National Public Radio (NPR). https://www.npr.org/2018/08/18/639698062/the-clergy-abuse-crisis-has-cost-the-catholic-church-3-billion. Accessed July 12, 2019.

  28. PA Grand Jury Report (2018), p. 1.

  29. Ibid.

  30. See, Louis B. Schlesinger (ed), Serial Offenders: Current Thoughts, Recent Findings (Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2000).

  31. PA Grand Jury Report (2018), p. 3.

  32. John Jay College (2004), p. 5.

  33. Ibid., p. 6.

  34. Ibid.

  35. Ibid.

  36. Ibid.

  37. Ibid.

  38. Ibid.

  39. Ibid.

  40. PA Grand Jury Report (2004), p. 10.

  41. For more information on chemical castration treatment, see Peter J. Gimino 111, “Mandatory Chemical Castration for Perpetrators of Sex Offenses Against Children: Following California’s Lead,” Pepperdine Law Review 23, issue 1 (1997): 67–105; Karen Harrison, “The High-Risk Sex Offender Strategy in England and Wales: Is Chemical Castration an Option?” The Howard Journal 46, no. 1 (2007): 16–31.

  42. See, Matthew V. Daly, “A Flawed Solution to the Sex Offender Situation in the United States: The Legality of Chemical Castration for Sex Offenders,” Indiana Health Law Review 5 (2008): 87–122.

  43. See, for instance, Peter J. Gimino 111, “Mandatory Chemical Castration for Perpetrators of Sex Offenses Against Children: Following California’s Lead,” Pepperdine Law Review 25, issue 1 (1997): 67–105; Karen Harrison, “The High-Risk Sex Offender Strategy in England and Wales: Is Chemical Castration an Option?” The Howard Journal, Volume 46, no. 1 (2007): 16–31; Elizabeth M. Tullio, “Chemical Castration for Child Predators: Practical, Effective, and Constitutional,” Chapman Law Review 12 (2010): 191–220.

  44. See, Karen Harrison, “The High-Risk Sex Offender Strategy in England and Wales: Is Chemical Castration an Option?” The Howard Journal 46, no. 1 (2007): 16–31.

  45. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/06/alabama-chemical-castration/591226/. Accessed July 19, 2019.

  46. Charles L. Scott and Trent Holmberg, “Castration of Sex Offenders: Prisoners’ Rights Versus Public Safety,” The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 31, no. 4 (2003): 502–509.

  47. Elizabeth M. Tullio, “Chemical Castration for Child Predators: Practical, Effective, and Constitutional,” Chapman Law Review 12 (2010): 191–220.

  48. The academic catalogues of some Roman Catholic seminaries in the United States were reviewed for this paper. Only three out of the first twenty catalogues contained courses that are human relations oriented.

  49. John Jay College of Criminal Justice, “The Causes and Context of Sexual abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States, 1950–2010,” (Washington D.C: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011).

  50. Harald Dressing, Dieter Dolling, Dieter Herman, Barbara Horten, Andreas Kruse, Eric Schmitt, Britta Bannenberg, Konrad Whittaker and Hans-Joachim Salize, “Sexual Abuse of Minors within the Catholic Church and Other Institutions,” Neuropsychiatry 31 (2017), p. 50.

  51. PA Grand Jury Report (2018), p. 3.

  52. R. V. G. Clarke, “Situational Crime Prevention: Theory and Practice,” British Journal of Criminology 20, no. 1 (1980): 136–147.

  53. PA Grand Jury Report (2018), p. 8.

  54. Ibid., p. 9.

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  1. Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, 1837 University Circle, Cheyney, PA, 19319, USA

    Norbert Ebisike

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Correspondence to Norbert Ebisike.

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Ebisike, N. Clergy Abuse: What Is to Be Done?. Soc 57, 3–8 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-019-00435-9

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