Society blamed for priest sex abuse

[link to www.theaustralian.com.au]

A study into the causes of the child-sex scandal in the US Catholic Church refused to call the abuser priests pedophiles and blamed the abuse on a moral decline in US society.


TRANSLATION : YOU AMERICANS ARE GUILTY AS CHARGED !!


The study by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York said the problem was not the result of homosexuality, celibacy and an all-male priesthood, but of poor seminary training and insufficient emotional support. It found that men ordained in the 1940s and 50s were not able to withstand the social upheaval they confronted as pastors in the 60s.

"Most of the priests who had allegations of abuse are not pedophiles," said lead investigator Karen Terry, because they "abused pubescent or post-pubescent minors". Victims of pedophiles are defined as 10 or younger in the study, commissioned by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Covering the period since 1950, it found the problem was a thing of the past. "The crisis of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests is a historical problem", with the rise in abuse cases in the 1960s and 70s "influenced by social factors in American society generally