Tuesday, March 08, 2005

More Great Things About Catholicism

Okay, after perusing a few of the articles that Google has cached, I have to eat crow. There are more than three priests that have been charged with sexual molestation. The three that I was referring to were all in Boston. Here's the numbers, remember, here at this blog, we only deal in facts, not innuendo and rumor. On to my lashing.....

There have been twenty-two priests charged with the crimes of molestation, fondling, and child abuse in the last three years. Ninety-six percent of the Catholic Dioceses have no record of any of these crimes committed. The overwhelming majority are from the Northeast and we know that they are not part of Jesusland, but rather part of the United States of Canada.

More numbers to support some of the things that I spewed: The vast majority of these crimes took place in the late sixties and early seventies. Not to say there have not been some of these crimes committed before or after, but most occurred then.

Even more numbers: Since the Catholic church started collecting statistical data on these crimes, there have been 148 defrocked priests and the church has spent over 800 million dollars settling these cases. Most people just got paid. Damn. And 137 of these priests were ordained in the sixties. I'm not too stupid about my church.

Still more numbers: There are currently 46,254 ordained priests that are active in the US today. That translates to a percentage of 0.000047563 of priests have been charged with molestation or other sexual crimes. The funny thing about this is that rate is 1/750th of the rate of molestation in non-priests. To go even further, the homosexual male is 17 TIMES more likely to molest a child than a heterosexual male. Go figger.

Anyhoo, we have to protect our chillun from the bad dudes and dudettes even if they are priests. So, I am advocating that every convicted child molester gets put into general population in his state prison of choice. Hey, them bad dudes (that aren't raping children) ain't all bad 'cause they hate them some child molesters. And they have a tendency to work those problems out.

Also, the network that registers sexual offenders here in Mississippi has lost 1756 registered sex offenders, so if you see some creepy unwashed cat rolling around your neighborhood, call the cops.

Hey, preacher, leave them kids alone.

UPDATE: I read the front page at the very least of every one of the links that we were sent. I am even more confused about these numbers now. Here's some numbers even further back. Around 4400 priests have been accused since 1950, with 75% of those incidences occuring between 1960 and 1984. 68% were made against priests ordained between 1950 and 1979. Although most of these incidents occurred BEFORE 1985, they went mostly unreported until AFTER 1993. Man, the plot thickens. Even more weird is the descriptions of some of these alleged situations. Less than half (the numbers are either 25%, 27% or a total 52%, I can't figure that out) are described as not being oral sex or penile penetration. Even more revealing is that only 3% of priests that were charged were convicted and only 2% served time. So, I still don't know exactly how many priests are doing time for sex crimes, but with these numbers, it seems to be an even smaller sampling that I originally thought.

Of all the weird things in the John Jay study, the most bizarre was this statement:
Most of the allegations involved touching over or under clothing. The study said sexual abuse "includes contacts or interactions between a child and an adult when the child is being used as an object of sexual gratification for the adult." It added that the abuse does not have to involve force or genital or physical contact. This leads me to believe that some of the alleged victims might have just imagined being mentally molested. Forgive me, I am not making light of this, but that just doesn't make any sense. How can any sexual abuse take place when there is no touching? Answers; Bueller, Bueller, Frye, Frye?


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19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the facts, two dogs. I would be willing to guess that the search for television rateings has pushed our lovely meda to persue telling all about the few priest that comit crimes. It's much more interesting to talk aobut the verry few child molesting priest rather than some regular old greasy headed guy wearing a CSI Las Vegas T-shirt that does that kind of thing on a regular basis. But what the hell do I know.

Paul Mitchell said...

What a very intersting description of the normal child molester. Is there a CSI Las Vegas now? Sorry, I just do not turn on the tube anymore. Oh, and get a profile on Blogger and keep coming back. Thanks for the comments.

Anonymous said...

well, Two Dogs, I mean...well sometimes I just like to be anonymous. To keep out of yall's little arguments and stuff. I do have a profile. I like the blog! Keep up the good work! Maybe you will get your self one of those White House Press Core credintials one of these days... That would be crazy.

Paul Mitchell said...

Just look at my head swelling (NO HOMO, soundboyz). Gee, thanks!

Nzyme said...

Two Dogs,
The word here is stereotype. What does a child molester, rapist, murder, etc. look like? Hmmmm, like a teenage boy who just turned 18 but slept with a girl who looked/claimed she was 17-going-on-18 as well, but was only 14 and her parents are pissed....like a Catholic priest, someone you would never expect to do such a thing...like an abused child who goes on to perpetuate the abuse with cousins, siblings, and friends--acting out what he/she has been taught...like a nice, married schoolteacher, whose only concern is that your child make an "A" in his/her class...I think you get my point. I'm not excusing sex crimes, but I am bringing awareness to the fact that "normal people" are just as likely to commit a sex crime as that creepy, greasy, geeky-looking guy found lurking around school playgrounds. A vast number of sex crimes go unreported and unprosecuted, yet have wrecked havoc on the victims' lifetimes. A lifetime is a LONG TIME to deal with being victimized---especially in the dark, in the closet, behind closed doors because of SHAME. Instead of finger-pointing, start advocating awareness. Children need to be told not to trust ANYONE--PERIOD, when it comes to being asked to partake in unwanted, unsolicited sexual activity. They should also be encouraged to report any signs of sexual abuse being displayed by their peers. If more "cries for help" were recognized in this manner, maybe a few would-be molesters would instead become conscious survivors. I'm not here to bash a single "type" of molester, I'm going for the whole SHEBANG! Have a blessed day!

Anonymous said...

Gotta love anyone that uses the word SHEBANG!

Paul Mitchell said...

Nzyme, I was not saying that you could tell if someone was a molester or sex freak just by the way he/she/undecided looks, I was saying that priests commit these crimes at a much lower rate than non-priests. I certainly wish that rate was zero, but they are human too.

RightwingSparkle said...

Great post! I have been wanting to say something about this for a long time and didn't quite know how to go about it. I quoted you and got started. Thanks!
Where are you in Mississippi? I grew up in Jackson and graduated Ole Miss! You can use my e-mail to answer me if you wish.

Nzyme said...

Sorry, sir (Two Dogs). Actually, my post was directed at remarks made by Anonymous---YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!! LOL!! And hey, I have a few more words for you...

Imara said...

Two Dogs, It's been awhile since I've taken statistics, but I think your numbers may be a little misleading. Also, you say "charged and covicted"... what about the ones that were just moved from parish to parish, and no charges were brought against them?

Paul Mitchell said...

I did not use the convicted stats. I went with the more liberal numbers of actually being charged. The thing that kills me about this topic is that most of the people just took the money. Damn.

Imara said...

Two Dogs... did you say "Liberal"? LOL! (Soundboyz, I think we're having an affect!)

I, too, am amazed that anyone could be bought off on something as tragic as this. I just hope that they received the treatment they deserve, because like Nzyme stated, they could perpetuate the crime.

Imara said...

A apologize for the dublicate post... I'm having some computer problems.

Paul Mitchell said...

Don't sweat it, Imara. I knocked it out.

Wayne World said...

Exactly, those numbers are just that, numbers. One molestation is one too many. Especially coming from a Religious institution!They can be judgmental towards everyboby else, so whats good for the Goose.....

Imara said...

I agree, Soundboyz. And then to try to cover it up on top of all that... what happened to "Thou shalt not bear false witness"?

nodogsplez said...

Just going to leave y'all with a few factoids via links, if I may. Several of these are hosted by factions of the Catholic Church. Regarding the numbers, see the John Jay study. For simply a salacious read, see the last link on the Borgia family (Cardinal, then Pope).

As for the rest, I'm with soundboyz. One molestation is one too many.

http://www.marriedpriests.org/index.htm

http://www.ncrnews.org/abuse/

Call to Action: http://www.cta-usa.org/index.html

Call to Action, abuse resources: http://www.cta-usa.org/responses/sexabuse_resources.html

American Catholic Org John Jay Study on Abuse among Priests: http://www.americancatholic.org/News/ClergySexAbuse/

Articles on History, Marriage, Theology, & the Bible: http://www.clgs.org/marriage/history.html

History of Roman Catholic Church: http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/section/RomanCat_History.asp

A History of Cardinal & Papal Mistresses, plots for murder, misuse of office, multiple marriages, adultry, etc.: http://crimelibrary.com/borgia/borgialucrezia.htm

Wayne World said...

Thank you for the knowledge nodogsplez. I appreciate this.

Paul Mitchell said...

Oh, like I don't have anything better than to go read about all this stuff. You sound like you are an editor or something. Thanks for all the info, and dammit we'll read it.