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While we are on this subject, appalling and lamentable as the abuse--both physical and sexual--of children by Catholic is, we must put this in perspective by noting that abuse of children by teachers and staff in public schools is far more prevalent. Some surveys estimate that one out of every ten children enrolled in public schools K-12 will be abused by an employee of the public school systems. And it remains far more difficult to remove and punish school employees than it is to deal with errant clergy.

I do recall some abuse on the part of one of my public grade school teachers. That was in the 1940's. She paddled our hands hard with a paddle and it stung a lot and turned red. But most of all I recall the abuse done by priests who taught us our Saturday catechism classes..with a belt in front of everyone in the class to deter others from speaking back or getting out of line. Mainly this was for the boys who misbehaved as we girls were too afraid to peep out loud let alone misbehave. And this was commonly acceptable. No wonder my mom had to force me to go to those classes.

I thank God that in this time..this is not allowed..and those who abuse children are being called to accountability both by the public school systems and the churches.

It is nice to see that someone can move decisively and quickly.

In Christ:
Einar

Yes, but as I said above, the abuse was filmed and could be watched on BBC on the internet. What else could the Serbian Orthodox Church do in response to that kind of evidence?

If there had been mobile phones with cameras in Artane or Letterfrack, things would have turned out differently!

So this is one reason why modern technology may sometimes be a good thing!

I think this is rather cynical. You assume they would have done nothing if technology wasn't involved.

Stuart:

My wife is a public school employee and she will tell you that child abuse is taken very seriously at least in the the Wake County School system here in Raleigh, NC. There is NO corporal punishment administered to the kids and one would find themselves out of a job and in jail if they administer the paddle. As for sexual abuse, one will go to jail as well.

In Christ:
Einar

PS Could you please tell me where your statistics are from?

Yes, I assume that. If history is anything to go by, I think that's a reasonable assumption too.

To make an assumption of such a negative nature seems sinful to me. Assassination of character comes to mind.

Einar

"My wife is a public school employee and she will tell you that child abuse is taken very seriously at least in the the Wake County School system here in Raleigh, NC. There is NO corporal punishment administered to the kids and one would find themselves out of a job and in jail if they administer the paddle. As for sexual abuse, one will go to jail as well."

My sister is a teacher in the New York City public school system; my father is a retired assistant principal. They will tell you that it is extremely difficult to fire a public school teacher due to union and administrative rules, and that many--perhaps most--incidents are either not reported to authorities or not prosecuted. In fact, it is illegal under New York State law to fire a teacher accused of sexual abuse. Abusing teachers are frequently just shunted from school to school, until the retire (does this sound familiar?). One study found that 5% of teachers sexually abused students (which is considerably higher than the percentage of priests abusing children). A comprehensive study is underway at the Department of Education, entitled, “Educator Sexual Misconduct with Students: A Synthesis of Existing Literature on Prevalence in Connection with the Design of a National Analysis.” However, it has not yet been released. Probably too hot to handle.

Some oother important studies and articles include:

Daniel Wishnietsky, “Reported and Unreported Teacher-Student Sexual Harassment,” Journal of Ed Research, Vol. 3, 1991, pp. 164-69.

Douglas Montero, “Secret Shame of Our Schools: Sexual Abuse of Students Runs Rampant,” New York Post, July 30, 2001, p. 1.

“Schools Chancellor: Four Teachers Barred from Classroom,” Associated Press, June 12, 2003.

Charol Shakeshaft and Audrey Cohan, In loco parentis: Sexual abuse of students in schools, (What administrators should know). Report to the U.S. Department of Education, Field Initiated Grants

Diana Jean Schemo, “Silently Shifting Teachers in Sex Abuse Cases,” New York Times, June 18, 2002, p. A19.

Elizabeth Cohen, “Sex Abuse of Students Common; Research Suggests 15% of All Children Harassed,” Press & Sun-Bulletin, February 10, 2002, p. 1A

Berta Delgado and Sarah Talalay, “Sex Cases Increase in Schools; Many Acts of Teacher Misconduct Not Being Reported,” Sun-Sentinel, June 4, 1995, p. 1A.

I am a public school teacher and so is my wife. I was not offended by Stuart's post in which the claim was made that "one out of every ten children enrolled in public schools K-12 will be abused by an employee of the public school systems." To me, this is probably best explained by the fact that those who are inclined to abuse or exploit children are often inclined to seek careers or volunteer opportunities in which they have access to children.

Ryan

Einar,

This is exactly the type of abuse which would earlier have been swept under the carpet. Now it cannot be ignored.

But you are missing part of my point. Now that there is video evidence, it is also possible to react much more strongly because there is much less doubt about what happened.

Earlier, it was possible to dismiss claims of abuse because it was word against word and there was no clear evidence.

Ryan,

I am afraid you may be right that sexual predators are actively seeking work where they have a chance to prey on the helpless and the innocent.

That's why it is so important that teacher training programs include proper screening of the candidates. Unfortunately no one has yet come up with a screening method that was completely fool proof, and given human nature no such screening method is likely to be found either.

Still, I think candidates for the priesthood and religious life go through a much more thorough process than (most of) those who wish to become teachers and childcare workers.

the NYC School systems are a perfect example of the downside of unions: the bad are protected by the union from just consequences.

In my youth, the legal age of sexual consent in Alaska was 16+, and 12+ could consent to someone within 3 years of their own age. Many teachers in the HS level were involved with former students; the ethics clause prohibited current students. The Union went to bat for several teachers who were sexually active with former students.

Finally, one got enough public press that the consent law was changed, making a 5 stage system
12+ 3 year limit.
16+ anyone not in authority over them
18+ anyone but Police, Medical, Fire, or Educational system employees.
21+ anyone.

Quite literally, this change resulted in a radical change in teacher behavior, since what had previously been an hard-to-fire-over ethics violation became a major felony.

To read about the various issues, search for Satch Carlson... fired for having sex with former students, reinstated, then fired again... and then the state changed the law.

OK I see what you are saying. I am so angry about all of this whole stinking mess of rotten corruption in our church as well as any in other that I want to throw things right now. To be honest I don't think I can even be rational about it.

In Christ:
Einar

"To me, this is probably best explained by the fact that those who are inclined to abuse or exploit children are often inclined to seek careers or volunteer opportunities in which they have access to children."

Famous bank robber Willie Sutton was once asked why he robbed banks. He replied, "Because that's where they keep the money".