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Roman Catholic Church (view source)
Revision as of 22:07, December 12, 2008
, 22:07, December 12, 2008A bit of tidying and clarification.
==Recent Controversy==
==Recent Controversy==
[[Image:Cerro_de_Angeles.jpg|right|thumb|Cerro de los Angeles, Madrid, Spain.]]
[[Image:Cerro_de_Angeles.jpg|right|thumb|Cerro de los Angeles, Madrid, Spain.]]
Widespread controversy erupted in 2001 and the years following over past abuse of minors by some Catholic clergy involving inappropriate sexual contact. The difficulty spanned multiple churches and, unfortunately, difficulty in knowing how to deal with it sometimes led to the priests who were involved being moved from church to church by the presiding Bishops. For the most part the Catholic Church quietly cleaned this up internally in the mid 1980s. The vast majority of allegations of abuse that came to light in the 2000s occurred before this time period. Of course most priests were not involved, but the damage that could be done by even a small number of priests if not properly checked was horrible. Although words like pedophile were often used in the press, in truth 90% of the cases involved priests making overtures towards teenage boys, and not pedophilia. It was a case of breaking vows and non-celibate [[homosexuality]].<ref>http://cc.msnscache.com/cache.aspx?q=72992710807995&mkt=en-US&lang=en-US&w=98cf251&FORM=CVRE4</ref>.
Widespread controversy erupted in 2001 and the years following over past abuse of minors by some Catholic clergy involving inappropriate sexual contact. The difficulty spanned multiple churches, with a lack of set policy and reluctance to involve authorities outside the church sometimes resulting in priests involved being moved from church to church by the presiding Bishops. For the most part the Catholic Church quietly cleaned this up internally in the mid 1980s. The vast majority of allegations of abuse that came to light in the 2000s occurred before this time period. Of course most priests were not involved, but the damage that could be done by even a small number of priests if not properly checked was horrible.
Although words like pedophile were often used in the press, in truth 90% of the cases involved priests making overtures towards teenage boys, and not pedophilia. It was a case of breaking vows and non-celibate [[homosexuality]].<ref>http://cc.msnscache.com/cache.aspx?q=72992710807995&mkt=en-US&lang=en-US&w=98cf251&FORM=CVRE4</ref>.
Following the public discovery of the incidents, the church was strongly criticised in the media for choosing to discipline priests internally and reassigning them rather than reporting the crimes to law enforcement authorities. Opponents of the church label this a 'cover-up' process to avoid public embarassment or loss of moral authority. Due to the failure to report the abuse to police, the state of massachusetts passed a law mandating religous officials report any incidence of abuse of a minor of which they are aware. An exception protects the confidentiality of Confession.<ref>http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/seslaw02/sl020107.htm</ref>
Due to the scandal, the U.S. Catholic church has paid out more than $2 billion in abuse claims.<ref>[http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070715/la_archdiocese_070715/20070715?hub=CTVNewsAt11 L.A. Catholic church settlement]</ref>
Due to the scandal, the U.S. Catholic church has paid out more than $2 billion in abuse claims.<ref>[http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070715/la_archdiocese_070715/20070715?hub=CTVNewsAt11 L.A. Catholic church settlement]</ref>