THE CREEPY ROOTS OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE
Added: (Mon Oct 11 2021)
Pressbox (Press Release) -
In recent decades the Catholic Church has faced a tsunami of cases of child sexual abuse from almost every corner of the western world.
A recent damning inquiry found that some 216,000 children in France had been sexually abused by members of the clergy since 1950. The inquiry reported that "The Catholic Church is the place where the prevalence of sexual violence is at its highest, other than in family and friend circles." We expect children to be safe in a church, but they are more likely to be abused within church settings than state schools, holiday camps and sporting organisations.
The head of the French inquiry said that until the early 2000s, the Church had shown "deep, total and even cruel indifference" towards victims. He stressed that even today the abuse had not been eradicated, and called for reforms.
In September 2021 the UK Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse published a dossier of abuse in religious institutions, revealing that the Church remains mired in safeguarding and clerical abuse scandals. More worrying still, the Church has persistently failed to establish sufficient practices and procedures to properly safeguard children.
A special panel was set up by Pope Francis in 2013 to deal with the issue but it faced setbacks, including high-level resignations. In 2017, Marie Collins, an Irish survivor of abuse, left the group, citing "stumbling blocks and hindrances".
Why is abuse more prevalent within the Catholic Church than in other settings, and why is the Church so lax in addressing the issue? In WHY PUNISH ME? Michael Molony, who was abused as an altar boy, traces the creepy roots of abuse in the Church. He suggests answers to these questions and the disturbing findings in his book should be of concern to us all.
WHY PUNISH ME? by Michael Moloney is available from Amazon and all good bookstores.
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