Sexual Abuse and the Catholic Church
In January of 2002 the Spotlight investigative team for the Boston Globe dropped a bombshell when they revealed a story about sexual abuse within the local archdiocese of the Catholic Church. Boston, a heavily Catholic city, was left reeling as it learned of a total of 87 priests who had been accused of child sexual assault but were never brought to justice. Instead, the church leadership at the time opted to treat the offenders within the church or to simply move them to a different parish. The most egregious perpetrator of these crimes was one Father John Geoghan, who, over the course of his career, was accused of raping over 130 minors. The Boston Globe expose would be a catalyst for the church to finally confront the issue of child sexual abuse within its ranks, and would lead to a number of oversight improvements and operational changes. It would also help put child sexual abuse within religious institutions front and center in an American conversation on spirituality, politics, and power. What was the true scope of these Catholic priests’ crimes against children? What created these men and why did they choose to abuse children? How do we reconcile our deepest held spiritual beliefs in the face of crimes like these?
Learn more about pedophilia and pedophilic disorder here
Read the article The Neurobiology and Psychology of Pedophilia: Recent Advances and Challenges here
Read about some of the current research on pedophilia here
Read the article The Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States, 1950-2010 here
Read about sexual abuse in the Buddhist community here, here, here, here, here, and here