Det er nå blitt lagt fram en svært omfattende rapport i USA om seksuelt misbruk av mindreårige innenfor Den katolske Kirke. Rapporten sier bl.a. at årsaken til denne bølgen av misbruk fra ca 1965-85 kan finnes i samfunnet som helhet i samme periode: «Social factors influenced the increase of abuse incidents during the 1960s and 1970s, the report said. It found this increase consistent with «the rise of other types of ‘deviant’ behavior, such as drug use and crime,» and changes in social behavior such as the «increase in premarital sexual behavior and divorce.» Det leser jeg her. I samme oppsummering står det også:
… Priestly celibacy does not explain this problem. «Constant in the Catholic Church since the 11th century,» celibacy cannot «account for the rise and subsequent decline in abuse cases from the 1960s through the 1980s.»
Despite «widespread speculation,» priests with a homosexual identity «were not significantly more likely to abuse minors» than heterosexual priests. Sexual «identity» should be differentiated from «behavior.» A possible reason so many male minors were abused is that priests had greater access to them.
Less than 5 percent of priests with abuse allegations exhibited behavior consistent with pedophilia. Few victims were prepubescent children.
Seventy percent of priests referred for abusing a minor «had also had sexual behavior with adults,» the study found. The majority of priest-abusers did not «specialize» in abusing «particular types of victims.»
Rapporten er utarbeidet av John Jay College of Criminal Justice i New York, og de skriver om rapporten her. Hele rapporten på 152 sider kan leses her.
Den katolske Kirke i Danmark skriver også om dette, og har som overskrift: «Homoseksualitet og cølibat er ikke skyld i overgreb». Les hva de skriver her.