Catholic Church Sexual Abuse

Though sex abuse claims have exploded since the time period of the early 2000s, reports of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church date back several decades and span numerous countries throughout the world. The Church has long tried to keep allegations against accused priests silent, which has only exacerbated the problem by creating a culture of silence and acceptance among the clergy and further harmed victims by failing to hold perpetrators accountable for their actions.

Even though claims against accused priests have been arising for decades, new cases continue to emerge, for in recent years child sex abuse victims have been able to seek civil and criminal charges against their abusers and the institutions that allowed the abuse.

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Many states in the US have recently changed their statutes of limitations and opened look-back windows to address the sex abuse crisis within the church. These look-back windows allow victims of sexual abuse to come forward and seek compensation for their injuries regardless of how long ago the abuse happened or how old the survivors currently are.

If you have been the victim of sexual abuse by a clergy member, you may be able to seek justice. Though nothing can take away the pain that the abuser caused you, you do not have to go through the healing process alone. Contact an experienced attorney to learn about your possibility of recovery.

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How Prevalent is Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church?

In 2002, three reporters from the Boston Globe investigated and uncovered a massive cover-up of child sex abuse within the Boston Archdiocese. Before the data and the article were published, instances of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church were seen as isolated incidents. The Globe’s initial report encouraged other victims to come forward for the first time with abuse allegations, initiating numerous lawsuits throughout the country. Revelations around sexual abuse of young children in the Catholic Church has since gained increased attention from the Church, law enforcement, and the public.

In May 2011, the John Jay College of Criminal Justice published “The Causes and Contexts of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States, 1950-2010.” The independent report relied on a survey of over 10,000 allegations to detail the types of abuse, the data about victims and abusers, and the diocesan awareness of the sexual abuse issues.

The Pennsylvania grand jury report was released in 2018, detailing an 18-month-long investigation into six of the state’s dioceses. The investigation identified thousands of alleged victims and over 300 alleged perpetrators throughout the state and uncovered proof that church leaders knew about the abuse and hid it for decades.

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Helping Victims Of Sexual Abuse Nationwide

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These investigations around a devastating topic document the horrifying reality of what has happened in Catholic Churches throughout the world and the Church’s lack of effort to address and remedy the issue. Below are some clergy sexual abuse statistics in the United States in the latter half of the 20th century:

• Child sexual abuse allegations were made against 4,392 priests, totaling about 4% of all Catholic priests.
• Only 2% of those accused priests received prison sentences.
• Almost 48% of those accused priests in the US had two or more allegations made against them—it was not the first time these men of the parish were accused.
• About 80% of the victims sexually abused by clergy members were male.
• About 22% of clergy sexual abuse victims were ten years old or younger at the time of the abuse.

Sexual abuse by clergy members and other church officials is not a problem unique to the United States. Allegations of sexual abuse and abuse cover-ups have arisen in several other countries, including Europe, South America, and Australia. Some examples are:

• Australia — A four-year investigation revealed that more than 4,400 individuals were abused at more than 1,000 Catholic institutions during a thirty-five-year time period. The Royal Commission found sexual abuse allegations against 7% of Catholic priests in Australia in the 60 years between 1950 and 2010.
• Chile — Prosecutors in Chile have initiated over 100 investigations into allegations of sexual abuse by priests since 2018.
• Germany — Reports have shown that at least 1,670 clergy members abused more than 3,600 individuals during a 70-year period. Approximately 63% of the victims were male, and almost 67% were younger than fourteen years old.
• Ireland — Four reports into the Catholic Church’s failure to properly deal with abusive clergy showed that tens of thousands of children were victims of sexual and non-sexual abuse in Catholic institutions and that many Irish bishops, instead of reporting instances of sexual abuse, simply relocated the abusers to various parishes throughout Ireland, the US, and Australia.

Who Are the Perpetrators?

The perpetrators of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church are predominantly priests who have close access to children. However, there have been instances of abuse by bishops, cardinals, church officials, and other employees of individuals dioceses, such as youth group leaders or teachers of a Catholic boarding school.

Herman Law’s Predator Priest Index allows you to check for priests in various U.S. states that have been credibly accused of abuse.

Major Cases of Catholic Church Sexual Abuse

Since the 1980s, there have been several high-profile cases of child sexual abuse by Catholic priests in the United States, usually involving multiple victims and sometimes cover-ups by the dioceses in which they served.

• Gilbert Gauthe, a former Catholic priest from Louisiana, confessed to sexually abusing 37 children, though the actual number is believed to surpass 100. He was sentenced to twenty years in prison and only served ten years, but was later convicted in Texas for sexually abusing another young boy.
• John Geoghan, a former priest in the Archdiocese of Boston, faced criminal prosecution for sexually abusing more than 130 boys. The 2002 Boston Globe investigation uncovered church leaders’ knowledge and cover-up of the abuse. He was sentenced to 9-10 years in prison and died while incarcerated.
• Rudolph Kos, a former Catholic priest, was accused of sexually abusing several altar boys throughout the Diocese of Dallas. A $120 million jury verdict was awarded to 11 victims and their families, and the diocese later paid another $23.4 million settlement on additional claims of abuse by Kos. He was sentenced to life in prison.
• Washington, D.C. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick resigned in 2018 after being accused of abuse and attempted rape. A report released in 2020 revealed that both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI of the Vatican city state knew of the sexual abuse allegations against McCarrick but failed to act.
• James Porter, a former Catholic priest in various dioceses in Massachusetts, was accused of and pled guilty to sexually abusing 28 children. However, he later admitted to abusing more than 100 children in one diocese alone. He was sentenced to 18-20 years in prison and died in 2005.
• Paul Shanley, a former Boston priest well-known for counseling troubled youth, was stripped of his ministerial rights by the Vatican after being the subject of numerous sexual abuse allegations and sentenced to 12-15 years in prison. He died last year, in November 2020.
• Urbano Vazquez, a former Catholic priest in Washington, D.C., faced a 15-year prison sentence in 2019 for sexually abusing two young women.

Child Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church

For many years, the Catholic Church and many church authorities sought to cover up child sexual abuse at the hands of priests. A tight veil of secrecy kept allegations of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church out of public discussions and awareness. Because religious institutions have their own hierarchies, they had near-complete control over handling abuse allegations. Church leaders were typically made aware of pedophile priests in their parishes and church communities. Instead of addressing the abuses, they swept them under the rug. A common strategy was simply transferring the accused priest to another parish or district, hoping the allegations would dissipate. In nearly all cases, the priests continued to sexually abuse clergy members at their new parishes, and with each newly reported allegation, another reassignment occurred.

Church leaders never filed criminal complaints with local law enforcement nor took any tangible steps to hold these individuals accountable for their actions. If another priest or clergy member reported clergy misconduct, these individuals were frequently threatened with transfers to overseas missionary programs if they did not keep quiet. The Church’s long-accepted and employed strategy of covering up clergy abuse worked well because many victims and their families could be intimidated or shamed into silence. As documented by the Boston Globe, abusers frequently targeted victims from vulnerable families, whom the abuser and those covering for them could easily manipulate into remaining silent for fear of retaliation or mistreatment in the local church community.

If reports of clergy abuse managed to slip out from under the Catholic Church’s wall of secrecy, the cases settled quickly, and in return, the Church demanded non-disclosure agreements. The Church allowed the clergy members to remain despite their sexual misconduct, leading many to promote within the Church hierarchy to bishop, monsignor, or cardinal positions. The cycle of secrecy thus continued.

In 2002, the United States Conference for Catholic Bishops (USCCB) adopted the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, more commonly known as the Dallas Charter. Local districts took charge of the implementation of prevention programs resulting in inconsistent and flawed policies. As a result, clergy sexual abuse continues to be pervasive within the Catholic Church.

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Why is Child Sex Abuse So Common in the Catholic Church?

Studies throughout the years have found several potential causes for child abuse and child sex abuse cases. However, there is no one reason why child sexual abuse by clergy member or other Church authorities happens — causes vary between individual offenders. Child abusers inside the Catholic Church were able to flourish for various reasons. Without independent investigations, church authorities allowed their Catholic clergy members to take advantage of their power and supposed moral authority. Other factors that allowed so many cases of sexual abuse of minors to happen include:

• Secrecy and Cover-ups — Reports have found that many dioceses covered up allegations of sexual abuse by priests in the past. The culture of secrecy has led to many offenders simply being transferred to another parish or diocese, which only served to perpetuate the abuse.
• Clerical celibacy — Modern clergy members are expected to be both unmarried and to abstain from sex. Some theorists believe that this life of celibacy contributes to clerical abuse by creating a “morally superior” status among abusive priests. Others believe that priests’ sexuality stops changing upon beginning celibacy, which often starts in their adolescent — critics suggest this is why most victims are pre-adolescents.
• Impact of psychology from previous decades — Decades ago, when much of the alleged sexual abuse initially occurred, it was believed that individuals could easily be cured of sexually abusive behavior towards children, and it became a common practice to “treat” the offenders and then return them to their parish positions.
• Pedophilia and Ephebophilia — A 2008 study found that approximately 6% of clerical abusers are pedophiles (those who target pre-pubescent children), and approximately 32% are ephebophiles (those who target pre-adolescents and teenagers). However, many offenders and accused priests do not fall strictly into either category.
• Seminary training — Many clergy members have suggested that they were not adequately prepared to lead a celibate life through their training in the seminary.
• Male-dominated Church culture — Some theorists believe that a greater female presence in the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church may have prevented widespread sexual abuse. They may have advocated for stronger safety measures in meetings such as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Most importantly, the Church’s failure to respond immediately and appropriately to allegations dating back several decades has perpetuated a culture of silence and acceptance. Church leadership has repeatedly:

• Denied instances of sexual abuse,
• Failed to act to prevent current and future acts of abuse,
• Failed to remove sex offenders from the Church and instead transferred them to other parishes,
• Failed to report instances of sexual misconduct to the police,
• Failed to record and maintain evidence of abuse within the dioceses accurately,
• Hid information about sexual abuse from the public, and
• Encouraged secrecy among bishops with knowledge of sexual abuse within their diocese. This is particularly pronounced in the Boston and Pennsylvania cases detailed by the Globe and the Pennsylvania grand jury report.

Jeff Herman

Jeff Herman is a nationally recognized attorney and founder of Herman Law, known for his dedication to helping survivors of sexual abuse. With over 35 years of experience, Jeff has represented thousands of clients across the U.S. and secured landmark victories, including a $100 million verdict. He is trained in trauma-informed advocacy and works closely with survivors to guide them through the legal process with care and determination. Jeff is admitted to practice in Florida and New York and leads a team committed to justice and healing.

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