Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Jazz
No, they're not exempt from reporting laws.
It's a real problem, and it's being addressed. I'm with you - I classify myself as a disinterested agnostic (don't know, don't care) - but I'm married to a practicing Catholic that used to work in the Church in a department that dealt with this kind of thing on a daily basis. Honestly, it seems like there's currently more of a problem outside the Catholic Church than inside it. At least the Church has some pretty tight controls in place to try to stop stuff before it happens and to deal with it if it does happen.
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Not directly on topic because you've covered that fairly well, I think. I do however think your above comment is a little (and really, just a little) naive. Like you, I'm not Catholic, but am married to a devout one.
The fact that your wife worked in a church department that dealt with this sort of thing gives you an insight that the rest of us wouldn't have... but it IS a biased one. The church has a strong incentive to not look objectively at the matter.
From an informed outsider's POV (I read just about everything I can on this topic), it really seems that the church's response is weak, and only comes into play when there is a local media focus on the issue. Abuses in Ireland and Europe, where the strength of the church precluded media attention until relatively recently continued well into the 1990's and probably into the early 2000's, despite the prominent reports from the US. Abuses in Africa and Asia are almost certainly continuing to this day, aided and abetted by the church (no, I have no evidence for that; simply the lessons of recent history). Church controls are far from consistent from diocese to diocese.
As to their being no more danger of a priest being a pedophile than in the general population, it depends. Most pedophiles are actually not serial but opportunistic in nature. They assault a child in their own family and never outside. Priests who do offend tend to fall into the serial category, and so spread their harm over more victims.
So the issue of how much danger there is relates more to the nature of the pedophilia (serial vs opportunistic) and exposure of potential victims. The nature of their work gives priests access to more potential victims. It's like a pedophile elementary school teacher versus a pedophile banker. Where is there more danger?
Finally, there is at least some anecdotal evidence that the priesthood somewhat preferentially attract males with pedophilic or homosexual predispositions (I hate putting those 2 terms together because they ARE NOT related in any way). The simple rationale is that men with those tendencies who recognise that in themselves are drawn to the celibate lifestyle as a means to control any urges. It may work for at least some.