Larry Cirignano, Esq.
CatholicVote.org
PO Box 70695
Washington, DC 20024
609-781-0090
Larryvote@aol.com
www.CATHOLICVOTE.ORG
At least 250 priests of more than 46,000 across the country have either been dismissed from their duties or resigned since the scandal began
EDITOR'SCOMMENT: Mathematically then, greater than 99.5% of the priesthood has remained untainted by this scandal. Reminds me of the Proctor & Gamble ads for Ivory soap:Hmmm. Maybe the headline in the Washington Post article should have read: The Catholic Priesthood in America: Purer than Ivory Soap!
...in the final analysis, It is between you and God;
It never was between you and them anyway.
~ Mother Teresa
For the Record:
There were 75 members of the clergy convicted of sexual offenses between 1985-2000. Thirty-eight were Catholic Priests.
According to the Christian Science Monitor, Non-Catholic churches are reporting an average of 70 incidents a week to their insurance companies.
There were 236,000 people in jail for sexual offenses in 2000 (38 priests), accordingto the Juvenile Bureau of the Justice Statistics. They have a 45 page report that goes into details about time of day, location, relationship etc.
Since 1960 there have been over 140,000 men ordained in the priesthood or as Brothers. Currently there are 46,075 priests. So far this year, 250priests have been charged with an offense, some as long ago as 45 years ago. At least 3 have already been reinstated and exonerated.
Over 10,000 priests have left to get married in the last 30 years.
We do a great disservice to parents when we only warn them about priests. The largest group of the 236,000 offenders are relatives, in the victim's home, between the hours of 3-7 PM.
The majority of the 250 offenses have been homosexual liaisons, not pedophile with prepubescent boys. Milwaukee Bishop Weakland's victim was 32 at the time of the sexual assault.
We do a great disservice to the 45,800 + priests when we stereotype them as homosexuals. There is no evidence that there are more (or fewer) homosexuals than the general population in the priesthood.
It's good that the Catholic Church should be held to a higher standard of scrutiny. One victim is one too many, and we ought to do everything possible for them. But we ought not compound the problem by attacking the Church and the clergy by stereotyping them.
Individuals have sinned, some have committed crimes, and all of them should be punished. None should be persecuted. Priests who get out of jail need to be held to their vows of obedience in permanent penance. They need to continue to be insured so they can be treated, supervised, monitored and accounted for.
Larry Cirignano, Esq.
CatholicVote.org
PO Box 70695
Washington, DC 20024
609-781-0090 cell
202-318-0789 fax
Op-ed
250 too many. Church should stand for injustice long time ago. I hope that this will move us towards better and more just society and religion community. If anywhere, morality should be in thefrontline of a religious leaders. This way when it is not, it makes all of the great things that have been accomplished so unimportant. All of the charity work that have been unselfish and dedicated is being put aside.Equally all of the clergy should be exposed for what they stood in the past. Catholics took a stand. Let's see others.
NB
