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NOTES

(1) Notre Dame University 2019 Forum, “Rebuild My Church: Crisis and Response,” September 25, 2019, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3302cD6bRs.

(2) Ibid.

(3) Dr. Francesco Cesareao, 2018 Annual Report of the National Review Board to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, available at: http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/child-and-youth-protection/upload/Annual-Progress-Report-Cesareo-to-the-Body-of-Bishops-Final-2018.pdf. Emphasis added.

(4) Katarina Schuth, “USCCB Webinar on Resources for Prevention of Sexual Abuse,” October 6, 2014, available at: http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/child-and-youth-protection/reports-and-research.cfm.

(5) Paul G. Crowley SJ, “From the Editor’s Desk,” Theological Studies 80, no 3. (2019): 505. Emphasis added.

(6) Katarina Schuth, “USSB Webinar on Resources for Prevention of Sexual Abuse.”

(7) See The John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The Nature and Scope of Sexual Abuse of Minors By Catholic Priests and Deacons in the United States, 1950-2002 (Washington, DC: USCCB, 2004), 26-27, Available at: http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/child-and-youth-protection/upload/the-nature-and-scope-of-sexual-abuse-of-minors-by-catholic-priests-and-deacons-in-the-united-states-1950-2002.pdf. See also, John J. Tourangeau, “The Clergy Sexual Abuse Crisis in the United States: Toward a Robust Multilevel Interactionist Lifespan Context, Process, Model, and Theory of Organizational Socialization (PhD dissertation, Benedictine University, 2017).

(8) See, especially, Massimo Faggioli, “The Cathololic Sexual Abuse Crisis as a Theological Crisis: Emerging Issues,” Theological Studies 80, no. 3 (2019): 572-89. Faggioli writes that, “the abuse crisis represents an emergency from a historical-theological point of view insofar as it uncovers serious lacunae in our knowledge of the history of the church.” (574)

1. Isn’t the sexual abuse crisis over? Is there really still a need for this kind of research?

Speaking at the 2019 Notre Dame Forum on the sexual abuse crisis, noted religion scholar and journalist Dr. Peter Steinfels had this to say:

“The one thing I am most certain about is that most of us know much less about this painful, stomach-churning scandal than we think we know. . . . We are called to ponder and pray, and ask WHY those betrayals occurred, and what will prevent them in the future.” (1)

While emphasizing the significant drop in the numbers of clergy abuse cases being reported in recent years, Steinfels went on to offer five reasons why, "this is still a pressing crisis.” (2)

In this, he echoed the sentiment of Dr. Francesco Cesareo, chairman of the bishops’ own National Review Board, when Dr. Cesareo noted the ongoing nature of the crisis in his 2018 report to the bishops. “According to last year’s audit of the Charter by Stonebridge Business Partners,” Dr. Cesareo reported, “historic allegations of abuse continue to emerge. More troubling,

current abuse of minors by members of the clergy, though declining, is still taking place. . . . While the number of allegations has been decreasing, reports of boundary violations have been on the rise.

These are red flags that cannot be ignored as they could be a precursor to incidents of sexual abuse of minors.” (3)

Sr. Katarina Schuth is a Franciscan sister, a sociologist of religion, and a noted authority on the formation of priests. A contributor to the 2011 John Jay Causes and Context study that was commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Sr. Katarina is a leading expert on the sex abuse crisis in the Catholic Church in the United States. She is quick to point out the dramatic drop in the numbers of clergy abuse cases reported since their peak in the 1960s thru the 1980s, along with some of the factors that account for this drop. Those numbers notwithstanding, in a training module created for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ website (created in 2014 and posted there today), Sr. Katarina clearly states,

“The problem of sexual abuse has not been fixed.” (4)

QUESTIONS STILL BEING RAISED

In the Fall of 2019, the premier theology journal Theological Studies announced that it was dedicating a three-part series, spread across its September and December issues, to exploring some of the as-yet-unresolved aspects of “the sexual abuse crisis that is still unfolding.” (5) And it is worth noting that, across the country, 2018 and 2019 have seen a number of Catholic colleges and universities sponsor colloquiums aimed at understanding the sexual abuse and harassment crisis in the Catholic Church—Notre Dame, Georgetown, Fordham, Villanova, Santa Clara, and Scranton are just a few.

This investment of time and resources into the topic of the Catholic sexual abuse and harassment crisis bears witness to an awareness that there is important work that must still be done. No doubt, the discussions taking place at Catholic institutions around the country will contribute important questions and insights. But discussions are not enough. The questions and insights raised at forums like these can only produce results if they lead to the kind of evidence-based research that the DRI was founded to do.

New areas of concern

One of the most challenging aspects of the sexual abuse of minors and the sexual harassment of vulnerable adults by Catholic clergy is that it is a dynamic problem. As time goes on, and as old problems are solved, new problems arise, requiring new insights and solutions. This is why Sr. Katarina Schuth warns,

“Decreased rates of clergy sexual abuse do not mean that less vigilance is acceptable since new forms of abuse, such as internet relationships and pornography, are steadily increasing.” (6)

And then there are the problems that are not new in themselves, but that are only recently beginning to get attention:

  • The need for greater accountability for bishops, and the ways to bring it about;

  • The full scope of the sexual harassment of vulnerable adults, and how to address this problem;

  • The reasons for the significant difference between levels of abuse by diocesan vis-a-vis religious clergy, (7) and the lessons to be learned;

  • The reasons for the leadership failures that enabled this crisis to go on for so many years, and how to address those systemic leadership problems;

  • The long-term impacts of this crisis on so many aspects of ecclesial life (8), and the ways to address those effects;

  • The implications of having such large numbers of priests either laicized or assigned to a life of prayer and penance, and how to deal with those implications in the future; and, above all

  • The complex harm that has been done to victims/survivors, and the most effective ways to bring healing and reconciliation where it is still needed.

These are just a few of the many topics that call out for further study.

The Catholic Church in the United States has made great strides in adopting policies to prevent abuse. Still, very little has yet been done to understand the root causes of the sexual abuse and harassment crisis and its mismanagement by church leaders. Through the independent pursuit of unbiased, agenda-free, evidence-based scholarly research, that’s precisely what the Dulles Research Institute has set out to do.