There was a study done with cases in the States a few years ago that showed the media was focusing on abused boys, since the legal cases for those had much higher financial penalties for the abuser, than when the victim was a girl.
The blame the girl victim mentality was definitely in play for those cases. Ratios were close to 50/50 IIRC.
I did see a graph of types of priests entering the priesthood that purported to show that as society liberalized in the 60's, the men entering the priesthood became more and more pedophiles / sexually repressed. It seemed the author was trying to show that straight men were no longer joining the church in any numbers.
Seemed a bit fishy to me.
However, I did hear a friend of a friend type report (she was in Seminary) suggesting that showtunes were very popular with 30 - 50% of priests in the catholic seminary. No idea of the truth on that one.
I do find the priest shortage to be another way that the Catholic Church is a slow motion train wreck. Their prohibition against marriage for priests really limits the numbers, as does their insistence on male priests only.
My step sister married a Catholic from France, and they had to wait 6 months for the parish priest to come around on circuit to get her through the training needed to convert. England is also reporting that church attendence is so low, that in places Anglican preachers and Catholic priests are sharing church duties in order to better cover their territories. Who would have thought it?
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cases with boys trigger larger financial penalties
Date: 2010-04-04 02:30 am (UTC)The blame the girl victim mentality was definitely in play for those cases.
Ratios were close to 50/50 IIRC.
I did see a graph of types of priests entering the priesthood that purported to show that as society liberalized in the 60's, the men entering the priesthood became more and more pedophiles / sexually repressed. It seemed the author was trying to show that straight men were no longer joining the church in any numbers.
Seemed a bit fishy to me.
However, I did hear a friend of a friend type report (she was in Seminary) suggesting that showtunes were very popular with 30 - 50% of priests in the catholic seminary. No idea of the truth on that one.
I do find the priest shortage to be another way that the Catholic Church is a slow motion train wreck. Their prohibition against marriage for priests really limits the numbers, as does their insistence on male priests only.
My step sister married a Catholic from France, and they had to wait 6 months for the parish priest to come around on circuit to get her through the training needed to convert. England is also reporting that church attendence is so low, that in places Anglican preachers and Catholic priests are sharing church duties in order to better cover their territories. Who would have thought it?