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What horrific statistics. And to think that the organisations involved seem to be more concerned about their reputations than actually addressing this very serious issue.

Agreed. In America at least, when a priest is found to be molesting children they're just moved to another church and the entire thing is swept under the rug. If they came out and got rid of these assholes, their image would actually improve rather than decline because it's declined a lot in recent years because of their persistent cover ups. It's mind boggling =/

That's absolutely frightening. It's scary how many places that should be safe for children to be like churches and schools, Boy Scouts and other organizations, not only have these kinds of scum in them but go to great lengths to hide the evidence and protect the molesters. If you shield a child molester or hide evidence of their wrongdoing then you're allowing them to keep hurting children and causing injustice. It's shameful, and you bring more hate and distrust to your organization by helping the abusers than you do by stepping up and saying "look we made a mistake putting this individual in charge of kids but we're working to correct it."

That figure doesn't actually surprise me. It makes a sick kind of sense. A male is expected to pursue sex with women, if he doesn't, he's looked at suspiciously, but if joins the clergy, then he doesn't have to fake 'normal' sexuality and has ready access to children in a secure environment where he knows he will be protected.

Sadly enough, people with paedophilic tendencies always seem to put themselves in careers where they have a high degree of contact with children and a large scope with which to offend. Teachers, Boy Scout/Girl Scouts and childhood sports coaches are all occupations where there are a distressingly high incidence of child abuse taking place.

The thing to note though is that while the organisation can't forsee who is going to be a paedophile, they can, and do, protect the children in their care by reporting these people to the police. Not hiding the evidence and moving the offender to a new town with a fresh bunch of kids to traumatise and defile.

That is what disgusts me in all of this, not that there are paedopile priests, but that the church are more interested in their own reputations than the wellbeing of the children in their care. =/

this is done everywhere. the church still has far too much power when it comes to dealing with their own when crimes are committed.

honestly these stats are no surprise when you combine abstinence, superstition, and opportunity to molest.