By Katherine van Wormer, MSSW, PhD
 

	Introduction
	Extent of the Abuse
	Power Dynamics in Clergy Sexual Abuse
	The Psychological Impact
	Prevention
	How Social Workers Help

 

Introduction

As of 2007, over 900 Catholic priests and other clerics have been proven to have molested a child since the clerical sex scandal erupted in the public consciousness in 2002. Virtually all of the priests had multiple victims.

Many priests have publicly admitted these offenses, and many have been found guilty in criminal or civil trials. More than $2 billion has been paid out nationally by the Catholic Church as compensation for the abuse and cover-up by church authorities.

In Los Angeles, for example, Cardinal Roger Mahony recently agreed to a record $660 million payout to settle a priest sex-abuse scandal that involved over 500 sex abuse victims. The settlement helped church authorities avoid a horrendous trial. Facts that would have been presented at the trial would have revealed the familiar pattern of pedophile priests being transferred from parish to parish, wherever complaints arose.

In the past, priests in trouble for sexual child abuse were sent to treatment programs and then returned to their duties where often abusive behavior began again. Only rarely were the offenders prosecuted or defrocked. Before the scandal erupted, and laws in most states were changed, most state laws exempted members of the clergy from reporting childhood sexual abuse of which they were aware.

Extent of the Abuse

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops concluded that about 4 percent of   all U.S. priests have been accused of sexual abuse of children. Most of the victims have been between 13 and 17 years of age. Some other estimates are higher at 6 percent  of all U.S. priests; 4 percent  of these had victimized teens and 2 percent  had victimized preteens.

Only one out of five alleged victims of clerical abuse have been female, according to a 2004 study commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. A random survey of over 7,000 active Catholics in the U.S. and Canada, however, found a closer ratio, that 1.7 percent  of the females and 3.3 percent  of the males had been sexually abused in childhood by a priest. These statistics reveal that a significant number of girls have been victimized by priests, yet media accounts have focused almost exclusively on the violation of boys. Sexual relationships between men and boys are associated with sexual identity issues because of the homosexual dimension of this abuse. Sexual relationships with female parishioners reinforce a traditional male power dynamic.

The disproportionate number of male compared to female victims is seen as a reflection of the role that priests traditionally were expected to play as role models to young males. Keep in mind the fact that until fairly recently, only boys could be altar boys (servers) who got to work alongside the priests.

Power Dynamics in Clergy Sexual Abuse

In the Roman Catholic Church, the ordained priest holds a position of sacred trust and is thought of as not only the church’s representative, but also that of God. The power of members of the clergy is enhanced by the trappings of their religious position and the mysterious rituals they enact. Their very bearing and manner of dress call attention to their moral authority. In the Roman Catholic Church, the ordained priest is addressed as “Father” by Catholics both young and old. He carries out his functions largely without supervision. Frequently, congregations idolize their spiritual leaders and view them as God’s representative on earth.

The Psychological Impact

How about the individual victim’s response? To find answers to this question, this author examined unpublished transcripts from ethnographic interviews with nine female survivors of clergy sexual misconduct. All the women in the study were white and Roman Catholic from birth. All had been sexually exploited/abused by a Catholic priest, some in childhood; and all had lived in a cloak of secrecy and experienced disapproval by the institutional church.

These survivors reported that their faith in God was shattered. Not only had they endured personal violation, but they found themselves without a spiritual home which to turn. An unexpected finding was that all had lost their fathers early in life or were estranged from them. Significantly, several of those surveyed had experienced some kind of sexual violation earlier in life, even before the priest encounter. This increased their vulnerability.

All those who were interviewed reported that they were forced into secrecy, often after a few failed attempts to get help. Some were accused of having been seductive with an innocent priest. Most responded either by repressing the memory for long periods or by blaming themselves. Several of the women were successfully healing from their pain as therapeutic and social support many years later. Some turned to a Heavenly Mother for solace.

A review of the literature on priest/clergy abuse reveals that for both genders the typical survivor became disillusioned with the church and suffered a loss of religious faith as a result of the abuse and the subsequent institutional response to the abuse. An inadequate amount of research has been done to determine the full extent of suicide attempts or completed suicides of victims of this form of abuse. One estimate in the literature is that 20 percent  of children who were abused by religious authorities considered suicide at some point.

Prevention

The institutional church has reluctantly begun to acknowledge the magnitude of the damage that has been done through years of denial and deception. Today, they are embarking on a stringent crackdown on the sexual abuse of children and adolescents. Oversight by lay Catholics and reporting of criminal cases to the authorities would further ensure the integrity of the Catholic Church.

A recent survey conducted in conjunction with U.S. Bishops and released by them to the public, provides some hope that the situation is improving. Their survey of the dioceses showed that more than 70 percent of the incidents against minors that were reported in 2006 occurred between 1960 and 1984. Most of the offenders actually were deceased.

The report also showed the following:

• Money spent on child protection efforts by the Catholic Church increased 35 percent from the previous year.
• Allegations of sexual abuse against minors by clergy fell by nine percent from the previous year.

Admission of women to the priesthood and reevaluation of the enforced celibacy rule are changes that might prevent further abuse, although they are not likely to occur at the present time. Both steps might help provide a much larger pool of intelligent, healthy candidates from which to choose. The Vatican’s response, which is to remove known homosexuals from the priesthood, is not helpful. This is a case of scapegoating and a false equating of homosexuality with pedophilia.

Once an allegation of priest sexual abuse has been reported, there are two parties in need of treatment. First, the focus should be on the victim, to provide support and reassurance. Secondly, the priest, is in need of therapeutic attention and support and the opportunity to make amends, so that, even if he is dismissed from the priesthood, and/or imprisoned, he will not continue his apparent harmful behavior.

How Social Workers Help

Grass roots organizations are behind many of the changes taking place by church authorities to address the issue of priest sexual abuse. Activist Barbara Blaine is a social worker and attorney who is the founder and president of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Having reported her abuse in 1985 to church leaders to no avail, she decided to find other survivors in hopes that they would help each other cope with the effects of the abuse as well as to work toward institutional change.

Since its founding in 1988, SNAP has grown to over 8,000 members in all 50 states and other countries too (information at www.snapnetwork.org.) Over 65 support groups are affiliated with this organization. At the policy level, SNAP is sponsoring a nationwide push for all states to end all statutes of limitation and to extend the amount of time victims of childhood sexual abuse have to seek justice in civil and criminal courts.

As we know from studies of rape survivors, a crucial factor in their recovery is the immediate response from significant others and authorities. If trauma is to be prevented, early intervention is essential. Because the teenage female survivor, in contrast to the male survivor of any age, is apt to be partially blamed for the sexual involvement, support by church and community is vital for her recovery.

Counseling sessions with an expert on trauma and healing can be tremendously helpful. Such an individual can help  violated children and men and women regain their faith in human nature, in their religious beliefs, and in themselves. Referral to a self-help activist group such as SNAP or www.crusadersagainstclergyabuse.com can be extremely helpful.

Justice occurs through offenders’ taking full responsibility for what they have done to the victim/survivors and the community. Social workers, such as those in Minnesota, Vermont, and Canada are becoming increasingly familiar with restorative justice techniques in bringing about justice and reconciliation when a wrongdoing has occurred. From this approach society is held accountable to the victim to help him or her restore what was lost. Offering apologies and reparations are integral to the restorative justice philosophy (see www.restorativejustice.org).

Social workers can play an active role in helping youths express their feelings of disillusionment and loss—loss of trust, innocence, and even, in some cases, of religious faith. Social workers have two obvious advantages over other members of the helping professions in regard to their professional training. The first is their systems orientation and willingness to involve family members in the counseling process (crucial here to help survivors rebuild their self-esteem).

A second advantage, unique to social work, is the profession’s holistic approach that addresses human behavior from a bio-psycho-social and spiritual perspective. The implications for social workers are that they must address the spiritual side of pain and healing as well as the psychosocial aspects of the trauma.

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