to clergy sexual abusers. Priest predators tend to target the weakest and most
vulnerable in our society. This behavior targets boys who are not likely to report
their abuse, and who have little family or societal support in overcoming their
difficulties. It is my experience that many of these boys embark upon a lengthy
cycle of self-destructive and anti-social behavior frequently culminating in
criminal convictions or worse. These boys also influence many lives, again
showing how the effects of the abuse of these adolescent boys radiates beyond its
impact upon the victim.

Sexual abuse requires an atmosphere of secrecy, victim powerlessness, denial,
and lack of accountability in order to flourish. Abuse by clergy raises many
questions: In what ways does the ecclesiastical structure of the Catholic Church
provide this environment? Is there anything that can and should be done to
change this environment? What will reduce secrecy and increase accountability
of the perpetrator and the institution? And finally, how does the Church
environment impede the recovery of priest perpetrators?

Frequently, the Church vehemently complains about media coverage of priest
sex abuse. What these complaints fail to acknowledge is that while press coverage
is a relatively recent phenomenon, child abuse within the Catholic Church family
is a long-standing problem. Philip Jenkins, in his book Pedophiles and Priests,
tells an interesting story that arose in California during the 1940s. ¹ A local
newspaper reported that a priest had been involved in an accident while in the
company of an unnamed female. The local Catholic community, opposed to the
coverage, began an advertising boycott, almost putting the newspaper out of
business. This incident apparently led to a complete moratorium on negative news
coverage of the Catholic Church until a small local paper in rural Louisiana began
to cover the sexual abuse case involving Fr. Gilbert Gauthe in 1985. Again, an
advertising boycott was attempted. The boycott failed. ² After the story was covered
in an independent Catholic publication, ³ more newspapers around the country
initiated coverage of this issue in their local Dioceses. Coverage exploded in 1992
when the case of Fr. James Porter focused national attention on this issue for the
first time. ⁴ The great tragedy is not the news coverage but the fact that a Church
used its power to conceal incidents of abuse and fostered secrecy for so long.

The Catholic Church is the largest religious organization in the United States,
four times larger than the next largest religious denomination. The size and power
of the Church and the local Bishop often create an influential force in society; at
times that power influences police departments, district attorneys' offices, and the
courts. The tendency of these agencies to protect "Holy Mother the Church" in
order to avoid "scandal" and allow the Bishop to "deal with our own" may well
have done more harm than good. ⁵ Within this protective environment crimes have
been concealed, perpetrators have been given access to additional victims, and the
cycle of abuse has continued. Simply put, there is strong evidence that this
national tendency to protect the Church has resulted in a lack of urgency on the
part of Bishops in addressing the important issue of abuse. An important question
to ask: Are the current policies and procedures adequate to address issues of

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