Priest Sex Abuse Caused By Hippies, Report Finds

When reports of Catholic priests abusing young boys started surfacing in the 1960s and ‘70s, many people blamed homosexuality. Instead of condemning the individual priests who committed sexual abuse, conservatives blamed the growing number of gay priests while liberals blamed the all-male celibate culture of the church.

A five year study was released today detailing the causes of sexual abuse by Catholic priests. Unfortunately, this study was disappointing in that blame was still not placed on the guilty priests themselves, but on other factors.

Blame has been moved from homosexuality to another minority group: hippies. Yep, as ridiculous as it sounds, the study blames the sexual revolution of the ‘60s and Woodstock for creating an atmosphere that led to cases of sexual abuse in the Catholic church. Really? I know plenty of people who lived through the ‘60s without feeling the need to abuse anybody.

The study, Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States, 1950-2002, was conducted by John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Unfortunately, the full study has not yet been released to the public. This is the second report done by the college, the first of which was done in 2002 and can be found here.

This study had so much potential to shed light on such a significant problem, but it was flawed even from the start. The study was paid for by bishops and Catholic organizations, and the data used in the study was provided by religious orders. Needless to say, not everyone in the church committed these crimes or wants to cover them up. However, the study’s data and funding are problematic because these religious organizations still have a motive to protect the image of priesthood whether they were involved in the crimes or not.

The study also cites poor organization as a cause of the scandals, according to the New York Times. The abuses happened, says the study, because priests were under a lot of stress and were poorly prepared for the job. Again, responsibility is being placed on everything but the individual priests themselves, and I can’t for the life of me figure out why. Wouldn’t it be easier to say that these acts were done by certain individuals who took advantage of their power to abuse prepubescent children? Why does it have to be a reflection of the church or of American society? Blame the ones responsible, and leave it at that.

Another disappointment is that although the study provides causes of these sex abuse cases, it does not offer many solutions. One article in the Washington Post stressed the fact that the study found that these abuses to be a temporary problem, and that reforms do not need to be made within the church itself. This seems like a cop out, and is disrespectful to the victims of these crimes. If multiple teachers in one high school were found to abuse children, wouldn’t the school change their hiring process?

Contact the author here: JennY@morningquickie.com