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Roman Catholic church reveals sex abuse figures
Published: 7 Dec 12 16:45 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/society/20121207-46637.html
Germany's Roman Catholic Church revealed on Friday that at least 66 clergy members had been accused of sexually abusing children and adults over a 10-year period, with most of the victims male.
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Based on dozens of expert appraisals of Catholic clergy members submitted by 21 of Germany's 27 dioceses, it said the clergy had been accused of 576 cases of sexual assault between 2000 and 2010.
Three-quarters of the 265 alleged targets of abuse were male, the German Bishops' Conference said, releasing the report drawn up by three forensic centres for research.
Most of the cases took place between the 1960s and 1990s "in a period when a different social awareness and a lower sensitivity to the theme of sexual acts on children and youths still prevailed," Norbert Leygraf, head of the Institute of Forensic Psychiatry at Duisburg-Essen University, said in a
statement.
It said that "only in few cases" was the alleged abuse the result of an abnormal psychological condition, such as paedophilia, and cases largely reflected the rate of the problem in society at large.
"In particular a sexual preference disorder as defined by paedophilia or hebephilia was only diagnosed in a minority of clergy members," Leygraf said.
"In this regard this is not significantly different from the prevalence in the overall German population," he added.
The study was launched in April 2011.
AFP/jcw
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Your comments about this article:
That could get you in real trouble else where!
If you like food you become a cook.
If you like little boys? As distasteful as that sounds, the clergy have historically been a haven for people that cannot express their sexual desires publicly - being illegal. The church makes it worse by covering up these offenders, thus giving a protective shield over them, attracting more.
I would say the number is much higher, but this is a start.
I'm actually a bugbear of all clergymen and they pretty soon fear me. I pretty soon take on them, criticize them. Because these guys are overvalued and so to speak overtrusted. If they expect that kind of trust, I reject it. But if you come from a small-minded Catholic family, and feel like these clergymen are sort of exalted, you're a potential victim.......
By the way, my church is stockpiling secular stuff and way too wealthy. And looks too much like a museum. Jesus would probably feel like taking a great big broom.....
Welcome to the FIRST WORLD ! A world of PAEDOPHILES.
My first impression of Germany was that of parents who care so much about their children - that was because I could see parents always with their children beside them. I however soon learnt the really reason for the trend: they are scared for their children. Its actually like a jungle: if you just relapse in your watch over your kids the marauding child molesters will sofort pounce them.
Much of what you say is correct, but do not forget another major source of this type of sick behavior; schools. There are far, far more cases of this sort occuring every year in our schools than in Catholic churches. Well, at least in America. You can hardly pick up a newspaper without reading about a teacher having sex with students.
It is clearly a known problem in many aspects of society.
I grew up thinking I could generally respect and trust the clergy, police, firemen, medical staff, teachers and so on. That is why this item is generally shocking.
On a recent programme, one child abuse victim reporting his sexual abuse by a carer that happened in the 70s, said that he thought if he said anything at the time, then he would have been beaten by his parents.