Pedophile Priests

     Two summers ago I had to submit a post grad proposal for a research paper.  I have debated posting it on my blog because the subject is so controversial and personal.  However, after reading this morning’s Toronto Sun, page 47, I felt that the time had arrived, to be risqué once again. I allow myself the luxury of reading the paper each morning now as I drink my coffee.  I have read the Sun since its’ birth.  This morning Peter Worthington, the founding editor reported the New York Times accepting an anti-Catholic ad of $38,000.  “The ad was in the form of a letter that asked Catholics:  “”Why send your children to parochial schools to be indoctrinated…sex scandals involving preying priests, church complicity, collusion and cover up going all the way to the top.””   It reminded me of an ad a while ago in the TTC which indicated “There is no God” or words to that effect which was soon removed.  I wondered as I read this morning’s paper, how many children $38,000 could feed?  I was also very disappointed in the New York Times as I had always thought it a cut above the rest.  But why, I pondered did I?   I even stopped watching Harry’s Law because of some negative remarks about Catholics on the show.  Cathy Bates is such an amazing actor that the words were even more biting.

   That summer when I conducted the research, it was very difficult and I wept more than once.  It reminded me of when I asked a professor why there was no study provided, about demonology and he indicated that it would be too difficult a topic to study for the length of time required for a university credit.  At the end of my research, after gleaning that pedophiles are in such great numbers and appear to be among everyone, I would have rephrased my hypothesis,  to the Roman Catholic Church being an unfair target of media attacks in regards to pedophile priests.  My research was soul wrenching.   One pedophile priest who was rightfully kicked out of the Church, was roaming freely in his country of origin and children could be seen nearby on the video as he bashed the Catholic Church, not taking any responsibility for his actions.  What was also painful was listening to the unfair opinions from people I actually like and respect who bashed priests mercilessly.  It was my belief before the research and it is still that pedophiles search for careers or tools where they have access to children.  It is not the organization that turns a man or woman into a pedophile.  I used to think that I would never be able to counsel a pedophile, that I could never get beyond my own personal convictions.  I have known and encountered so many people who have been abused as children.  Too many.  But when I have come face to face with abusers, I actually felt sorry for them.  Yet, that summer as I read and read and watched videos.  I could not feel sorry for the perpetrators.  I am after all human.  I have always suspected that there is a large amount of pedophiles walking around but I had no idea there were as many as I learned.  My hat is off to Germany and the States where figures were released.  We are obligated as people to protect children.  It is so anti-Catholic to harm a child.  I have heard recently that people are screened very well especially now prior to entering religious life and rightly so.  However, a pedophile does not have any markings, which distinguishes him or her from others.   I have cut and pasted and vetted the majority of my research proposal because it is mine, and I worked too hard to just post it.  Keep in mind the next time you hear about bashing in the Catholic Church if what you are hearing is hatred against a church?  Pedophiles unfortunately are everywhere.  If you are a pedophile priest reading this blog, please get help, and remove yourself from causing more pain to a church that has survived 2000 years.  Of course you may have another agenda which is to cause harm.  Women and children and men have a right to trust their priest.  If they cannot respect their vows than perhaps it is time to step down.  I have met so many wonderful priests.  Priests have died for justice and they have lived in deplorable conditions for others.   It is these priests who should be taken care of and respected.  The others, a small percentage should not reflect on the whole.                 

Two Years ago……………………………….

What is the connection between Roman Catholic Priests and Pedophiles?

     There has been quite a sensation with the media world-wide connecting Roman Catholic Priests to secrecy of pedophilia.  The reason I would like to investigate this topic for the assignment is because of the effects I see this has on some Roman Catholics and others.  I had a non-Catholic fellow student who has been in two of my Catholic college classes ask me what I thought of the scandal.  When I indicated that pedophiles go to positions of trust where they have access to children, she seemed to not be pleased with that answer.  A seminarian in my class who was present remarked that he thought she was anti-Catholic.  I pondered if this was true and wondered why she never asked our professors what they thought?  I thought of other questions she had asked and pondered more so.  I wondered what her attraction to our college is?  A young seminarian from Rome who wears his vestment indicated that when he was walking along the lakeshore with fellow students he patted a boy’s head who had approached him.  The boy’s father shook his head indicating he did not want his son touched.   An elderly woman, a Catholic who is 84 years old and volunteers at a Senior home helped me decide what my research question would be.  She was extremely upset that Arch Bishop Collins (now Cardinal) was addressing the topic vigorously.  I hugged and held her and said it was good that this was openly being discussed and dealt with.  I have had such wonderful experiences with the friendship of priests my entire life.  In my opinion there is nothing worse than someone who hurts an innocent.  I consider a child a precious gift.   When that innocence is tampered with, it needs to be addressed and dealt with.  It is when I held that suffering elderly woman that I decided what my research should be.             

What I would like to know more of is exactly is how many priests are pedophiles?

When did they first realize they were pedophiles?

Were they victims of sexual abuse as children?  Did they report it?  Why?

Who sexually abused them as children?  How many times and where?  Who were their abusers?

How many children did they abuse? 

Why did they become priests? 

How will they deal with what they have done?

Why would they commit an act which is so contrary to Roman Catholicism?

How do they feel their acts have affected the Church? 

What is their solution from keeping themselves from committing sexual attacks against children?

How do they think they should be punished?

Can they keep themselves away from children?

Is there a connection between pedophiles and the priesthood?

2.  Research Question will be:  What is the connection between Catholic Priests and pedophiles. 

I would like to conduct a qualitative design.

Question One:   What are the statistics of pedophile priests in the Catholic Church?

Question Two:  Are there more pedophile priests in the Catholic Church than other religious

Churches?

Question Three:  Is there a common denominator among pedophiles’ choice of employment?

Question Four:    What do pedophile priests have in common?

Question Five:    Can pedophiles stop sexually abusing children?

3.  Literature Review:…………………………………………………

The Assessment of connecting Catholic Priests to Pedophiles

Silva Redigonda

 ------------------------------University

Abstract

There has been a sensation with the media world-wide connecting Roman Catholic priests to  pedophilia.  This has caused a division in Roman Catholics, other religions and non-religious alike regarding what is factual or not.  The purpose of this study is to determine if pedophiles are attracted to the priesthood and to determine if the priesthood has more pedophiles than any other organization.  Physiological differences will also be examined.  The participants in this study will be selected randomly ……………………………….  Each participant will be provided with a ……………………………………….          

                             The Assessment of connecting Catholic Priests to Pedophiles       

    The Pope has reported that there is no place in the priesthood and religious life for those who would harm the young.  The Vatican has defined sexual abuse of a minor as the inclusion of sexual molestation or sexual exploitation of a minor and other behavior by which an adult uses a minor as an object of sexual gratification.  Removal from ministry is required whether or not the cleric is diagnosed by qualified experts as a pedophile or as suffering from a related sexual disorder that requires professional treatment.  If the penalty of dismissal from clerical state is not applied upon determining guilt for reasons of advanced age or infirmary as an example, the offending cleric ought to lead a life of prayer and penance.  He will also no longer be permitted to celebrate Mass publicly or to administer the sacraments within the Catholic Church.  Nor would he be permitted to wear clerical garb, or to present himself publicly as a priest (Card, 2010). 

     According to the DSM-III-R definition of pedophilia, sexual urges and fantasies must continue for six months.  Pedophilia tends to be chronic.  Many pedophiles claim to have been sexually abused in childhood.  The impact of child sexual abuse on boys has not received the same attention in research as the impact on girls.  Boys are more frequently victimized.  In many studies, adults who were sexually abused as children reported that they had never told anyone about the abuse (Murray, 2000).

     Personality traits of pedophiles and child molesters have been studied, but subjects are few, as are the personality tests used.  Therefore, it is difficult to produce precise personality profiles.  Some evidence indicates that perpetrators are shy, weak, passive, and nonassertive, with low self-esteem (Murray, 2000).  Studies provide support for pedophiles’ lack of assertiveness or anxious, inhibited personality traits.  Numerous studies in pedophiles suggest impaired self-concept (Cohen, et. al., 2002).  Limitations of literature regarding cause, consequence and psychotherapeutic treatment of pedophiles hinder the clinicians’ ability to treat those who seek help.  Establishing predictive valid and reliable measurements of sexual deviants are important if the profile of the pedophilia is to become more clear and treatment more effective (Murray, 2000). 

     Priest abuse is different from other abuse because to someone raised a Catholic, priests are God-on-earth (Frawley-Odea.2007, xiv).  Many priests who have been arrested as pedophiles entered the seminary at the ages of 14, 15 and 16 and so when they are unable to be celibate or when sexual urges overpower them, they seek out victims who they experience at some level as psycho sexual peers (Berg, 2006).  Some researchers disagree with this explanation.  Most men who abuse children are heterosexual (Berg, 2006).   The pedophile projects his feelings of powerlessness and often perceives that it is the child who initiates the relationship (Crosson-Tower, 2005).

     By 2004, more than 4300 hundred priests were alleged to have abused almost 11,000 young people between 1950 and 2002.  90% of priests never violated a minor ( Frawley-Odea, 2007, 5- 6).  Catholic clergy are not necessarily represented in the sexual abuse of children at a rate higher than or even equal to their numbers in the clerical profession as a whole.  At the diocesan level, each Catholic priest has a detailed dossier that records official complaints.  In recent years these

have provided the source for many legal actions, often based on events occurring decades previously.  In assessing misconduct in other denominations, there are no reliable statistics (Jenkins, 1986, 9). 

     In the John Jay Study, statistics were obtained by victims of sexual abuse who had come forward to accuse a priest and whose allegations were recorded and turned over to researchers.    The average age of a priest at his first reported incidence of sexually abuse is thirty-nine.  The age increased from thirty-eight in the 1950s to forty-eight in 2002, suggesting that priests may have begun to abuse after being a priest for ten years or more.  55.7% of credibly accused had abused one victim, 26% abused two or three, 13.9% abused four to nine and 3.5% abused ten or more.  Sexual predators rarely are honest about their histories as offenders.  Hindman and Peters found in three studies that sexual victimizers self-reported 1.5, 2.5 & 2.9 each on average.  Under submission to a polygraph the same offenders disclosed an average of 9.0, 13.6 and 11.6 respectively, four to six times the number of self reported.  The John Jay Study and the 2004 Study found that the majority of victims were sexually abused between the ages of ten and 14.  The John Jay Study also demonstrated a shift over the decades, toward male victims reporting having been abused for the first time between 15 and 17 years of age.  About one third of abusing priests sexually penetrated their victims or engaged them in oral sex.  2.9% engaged solely in sex talk or pornography use and 9% touched over the victim’s clothes or had the victim’s touch over the cleric’s clothes.  15.8% stopped at touching under the clothing.  67% of the priests were pastors or associate pastors and 10% were resident priests (Frawley-Odea, 2007).  The limitation of the John Jay Study is that priests were accused and not necessarily guilty.  Priests have killed themselves after being accused of sexually abusing and leaving notes behind of their innocence is not unheard of (Rossetti, 1996).  It is for that reason …………..  

     Several research reports suggest that perpetrators of childhood abuse demonstrate abnormalities in the frontal cortex (Cohen et al., 2002).  In a neuropsychological study of 160 pedophiles by Langevin and colleagues, heterosexual and homosexual pedophiles showed impairment in verbal function while bisexual pedophiles showed visual – spatial dysfunction on the Halstead-Reitan battery.  There is considerable evidence of severe personality pathology in pedophiles (Cohen, et al., 2002).  Schiffer et al., (2007) conducted a study of 200 sex offenders from two high security forensic treatment facilities.  60 male child molesters were screened for participation in the study.  Patients with pedophilia depicted a significantly lower amount of gray matter volume in the bilateral orbitofrontal cortex, the biliateral insula, the bilateral ventral striatum (putamen) and some limbic gyri (cingulated and parahippocampal).  The pedophiles subjects in this study were on average less intelligent than normal controls (Schiffer et al. (2007).

     Cognitive distortion is believed to be a primary factor in the initiation and maintenance of sexual abuse behaviors (Ryan et al., 2008).  Drugs have helped to reduce the urgency experienced by pedophiles and child molesters, providing an opportunity to reconsider their choices and respond to psychotherapy (Murray, 2000).  

     Many priest sexual abusers were found to have comorbid alcohol or drug problems, are naïve in interpersonal interactions, have authority conflicts, and tend towards depression.  At a superficial level of interpersonal interaction, the underlying cognitive dysfunction may not be readily apparent or manifest (Ryan et al., 2008).

     Estimates of child sexual abuse is up to 500,000 [USA] per year which may be seriously understated (Cohen et al., 2002)  According to German authorities, the incidence of child sexual abuse in Germany is as high as 550 cases per day which equates to 200,000 a year.  Only every 20 th case is recorded (Shiffer et al., 2007).  Community Safety and Correctional Services has been contacted by this researcher to determine an accurate amount of convicted pedophiles in Canada.  Interpol, General Scretariat in Lyon France has also been contacted to provide a list of  global statistics of convicted/known pedophiles separating them from known priests pedophiles.  This researcher is presently awaiting results  (I never received any results to this date).

     There are limited studies regarding pedophile priests.  There are limited studies regarding pedophiles in general.  The focus remains largely with research pertaining to the victims of sexual abuse.  Further reliable and valid research studies are required for more understanding of the pedophile.  Even though this study is restricted to men pedophiles, it is not dismissed that women, even married women with children are pedophiles (Murray, 2000). 

Method

Participants

     All participants will be . …………………….

Design and Procedure

     of analyzed responses. 

  Stage Two    

……………………………………………………….    

To participate further only pedophiles who have been convicted and cannot be convicted for the same offence twice will be selected for further testing.  This groups’ status will be confirmed with the Police Department for ethical and legal reasons.  Again the ratio of pedophiles and non pedophiles are to be the same with no less than 20 participants in each group.

After all the data are collected a debriefing session will be held.  The ethical and educational implications of the study will be discussed…………………………….

Statistical Tests     

       This study research will be a mixed study of qualitative and quantitative.  This will include code for qualitative, and T tests for comparison differences.  Statistical results will compare pedophile priests to non pedophile priests and to the global statistics on record to determine the percentage of pedophiles in relation to other organizations.  Graphs will be designed to depict results.     

References

Berg, A. (Producer/Writer/Director) & Cook, M. (Editor/Producer). (2006). Deliver Us

     From Evil. United States: Lionsgate.

Card, G.B. (2010).  “Recognitio” Of The Holy See For The “Essential Norms” Approved By The

     United States Conference Of Catholic Bishops. Letter Of The Prefect Congregation For

     Bishops.  Decree Of The Congregation For Bishops. Essential Norms For

     Diocesan/Eparchial Policies Dealing With Allegations Of Sexual Abuse Of Minors By Priests

     Or Deacons. Retrieved from http:// www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cbishops.

Cohen, J., Nikiforov, K., Gans, S., Poznansky, O., McGeoch, P., Weaver, C., et al. (2002).

     Heterosexual Male Perpetrators of Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Preliminary Neuropsychiatric

     Model.  Psychiatric Quarterly, Vol. 73, No. 4, Winter 2002.

Crosson-Tower, C. (2005). Understanding Child Abuse and Neglect, sixth edition. 

     Boston: MA. Allyn &Bacon. P 183.

Frawley-Odea. M.G. (2007).    Perversion Of Power. Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church.

     Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press. 173-181.

Jenkins, P. (1996). Pedophiles and Priests. Anatomy of a contemporary Crises.  New York:NY.

     Oxford University Press. 176-180.

Murray, J.B. (2000). Psychology Profile of Pedophiles and Child Molesters. The Journal of

     Psychology. 134(2), 211-224.

Rossetti, S.J. (1996). A Tragic Grace. The Catholic Church and Child Sexual Abuse.

     Collegeville: Minnesota. The Liturgical Press. 80.

Ryan, P.R., Baerwald, J.P., McGlone, G. (2008). Cognitive Mediational Defects and the

     Role of Coping Styles in Pedophile and Ephebophile Roman Catholic Clergy. Journal of

     Clinical Psychology, Vol. 64(1), 1-16.

Schiffer, B., Peschel, T., Paul, T., Gizewski, E., Forsting, M., Leygraf, N. (2007) Structural

     Brain Abnormalities in the Frontostriatal System and Cerebellum in Pedophilia. Journal of

     Psychiatric Research 41 (2007) 753-762.