Study: Clergy abuse of minors rising, but fewer male victims
Abuse of minors by Roman Catholic clergy has risen while the proportion of male victims has plummeted, as fewer homosexual priests are being ordained, according to a study set for release by an ordained Catholic scholar.
The report, “Receding Waves: Child Sex Abuse and Homosexual Priests since 2000,” by Fr. Paul Sullins, Ph.D., finds that while male victimization and homosexual priests rose together through the 1980s, they have also fallen together more recently.
Sullins is a retired professor of sociology at the Catholic University of America, who is currently a senior research associate at the Ruth Institute, a non-profit think tank that aims to equip Christians to defend the family in the public arena.
The report also shows that the proportion of female victims has risen. But Ruth Institute President Jennifer Roback Morse, Ph.D., warns that, overall, there has been “a disturbing rise of...