Study Finds 10,600 Children Abused by U.S. Priests

Deborah Zabarenko, REUTERS, Reports:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 10,600 children said they were molested by priests since 1950 in an epidemic of child sexual abuse involving at least 4 percent of U.S. Roman Catholic priests, two studies reported on Friday.

The two studies, which were commissioned by U.S. Catholic bishops in 2002, said the abuse peaked with the ordination class of 1970, from which one in 10 priests was eventually accused of abuse.

The abuse of children was a national health problem, said Robert Bennett of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops National Review Board.

"It's always bad when a child gets abused but when the abuser wears a collar, it's worse," said Bennett, who described the scandals involving the Catholic church as a crisis of trust and faith.

The report revealed that 10,667 children were allegedly victimized by 4,392 priests from 1950 to 2002, but said the figures depend on self-reporting by American bishops and were probably an undercount.

The Archdiocese of Boston on Thursday released local figures from the reports, saying 7 percent of its priests were accused of abuse in the last 50 years.

A group of academics at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York conducted one of the reports. It said 97 percent of the dioceses filled out its surveys.

The other report, on the causes and context of the crisis, was written by a team of prominent Catholic lawyers, judges, business people and bishop-appointed professionals on a national review board.

It used interviews with 85 bishops and cardinals, Vatican officials, experts and a handful of victims.

The 145-page report looked at the culture in Catholic seminaries, where priests are trained, and chanceries, or church office, that it said tolerated moral laxity and a gay subculture.

While the report made recommendations for reform, it did not say if church doctrine or rules needed to be changed.

"The problem facing the church was not caused by church doctrine, and the solution does not lie in questioning doctrine," said the review board's report.

Between 1950 and 2003, 162 priests were accused of molesting minors, the archdiocese of Boston said, citing the John Jay report. (Additional reporting by Sinead Carew)

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