Feb 16, 2004 / 22:00 pm
A draft survey on sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy found that more than 11,000 allegations were made against 4,450 priests, or about 4 percent of the clergy, who served in the United States between 1950 and 2002, reported CNN yesterday.
This unprecedented survey, to be released Feb. 27, was conducted by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and commissioned by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in order to better understand the scope of abuse in the Church.
Since no other profession or organization has ever conducted such a comprehensive study on the scope and nature of sexual abuse of minors, the Catholic League emphasized in a recent report the need to place these survey results in proper perspective.
Based on its own research, the league document pointed out that most abuse is committed by family members. It also included some data about the incidence of abuse in Christian denominations and professions, such as teaching and coaching. For more on this study, go to: http://www.catholicleague.com/research/abuse_in_social_context.htm