Dis-Information
Facts About the Church: Constant coverage of Church “scandals” skews the true image of these incidents and distorts their actual impacts. The following are actual facts and statistics that present the true state of the Church and unravel the thick web of dis-information put forth by the media. 1. Catholic priests are not the problem nor are they more liable to commit sexual crimes. The actual percent of priests who were actually accused of sexual crimes between 1950 and 2002 is only 4%, a rate considerably lower than males in the overall population, which is estimated to be around 10%. USA Today, June 6, 2010: "If anyone believes that priests offend at a higher rate than teachers or non-celibate clergy, then they should produce the evidence on which they are basing that conclusion. I know of none. Saying 'everybody knows' does not constitute scientific methodology." – Dr. Philip Jenkins, Pennsylvania State University. 2. Modern cases of abuse by Catholic priests are anomalies, and according to the CARA(Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate) only 8.5% are deemed actually credible. # / Year of accusations 1. 2011 2. 2010 3. 2009 4. 2008 5. 2007 6. 2006 7. 2005 While any form of sexual abuse is unacceptable, these numbers are microscopic to 63,527 sexual abuse cases reported in the U.S General Population. 3. The Church is not a hot bed of molestation, but in fact it is our public schools that we should be worried about. The incidents of abuse by public school teachers is estimated to be about 100 times more than those done by priests. A 2004 U.S. Department of Education report showed that "nearly 9.6 percent of [public school] students are targets of educator sexual misconduct sometime during their school career." Thus it can be seen that the Church is not the evil perverted demon the media has made it out to be. This sensational news has only been fueled by the Church’s “cover-up” of these cases. We must reform the Church so that cover-ups do not happen and extinguish this flaming dis-information fire. |