Study uncovers 205 cases of Jesuit abuse

What a surprise!

205 cases out of 206 studied....

This scandal marks the final turning point of the Church's influence in europe. The rise of imported cheap labor foretold the end of Christian europe.

I would be more interested in how many were sexually abused as opposed to how many were physically and/or sexually abused. The reason I say this is that many parents sent their children to Catholic schools with the complete knowledge there would be corporal punishment. The severity of corporal punishment is also in question. It could range from hitting a child's hand with a ruler, slapping, to punching. Note: I am not advocating these actions but when an institution is chosen for specific disciplinary methods (that it is known for), calling those methods out seems to be superfluous. I could be wrong.

Regardless, how many were sexually abused as opposed to just physically? I find the former to be infinitely worse than the latter given my statements above. It seems the headline is a product of spin generation. It could be 204 cases of physical abuse and 1 case of sexual abuse, or completely the reverse. But lumping two categories together seems like it was done in order to associate a staggering number with an even more stagging accusation.

I'm also interested in this: "The other 32 "suspects" were each accused by only one person." And what this exception to the general rule means.

I know I will get flamed for being an apologist, and I may be. I am more interested in the truth, and the removal of inaccurate or spinned information.

@wubba

I'm not a flamin'. But, I'll challenge a couple of things..

. If a parent sent a child to known drugs gang to train him for a career in drugs' running, does that mean the gang's drugs' antics are "superfluous"?

. Why is sexual abuse infinitely worse than the physical variety? Surely, the degree of badness depends on the reaction of the victim! All you are saying is that you would find sexual abuse infinitely worse - I hope and assume you are guessing.

. The 32 accused by only one person? That is a good question, but lets put it another way: there isn't much chance that one or more of these accusers haven't had there life ruined by an avoidable event.

I hate what the Catholic Church has done to the credibility of Christianity! And from what I see by the people I meet and know, it is quite evident... Leider!

@michael4096

You make some good points, and I should clarify.

What I meant by "superfluous" was that everyone already knew that there was corporal punishment in many Catholic Educational Institutions. It's now suddenly a big deal since it has been posted in headlines. This by no means implies the actions taken by corporal punishment were correct. In your example it would be the equivalent of someone telling the parents that they are sending their kids to a drug gang.

Second, this is a good point. Let me be clear that both acts are immoral, however if you take the average case of sexual abuse (for the sake of argument lets set the range of grievance from groping to sodomy) and you take the average case of physical abuse (slap on the wrist to horrible beatings) and excluding a combination I personally would rather be physically abused (note I speak for myself, and this is my opinion). However, if you take into account the actual extremes, then yes there are cases that sexual abuse (groping) would be much worse than physical abuse (aggravated assault). Both are horrible, no doubt.

The reason I make that statement is because in my opinion the emotional and physical scars of being physically abused are easier to overcome than the physical and emotion scars of being sexually abused. I believe that the mental stigma's associated with sexual acts are immensely more difficult to overcome. This is more or less speculation on my part and based on my own experience and knowledge. I could be completely incorrect.

Lastly, you are correct, but I fail to see how I contradicted that argument (even though I had to read it 3-4 times to truly understand what you were saying, a semantic matter only)

so sad when so many Jesuits are abused!