Tony Hopkinson

#CatholicPedophilePriests The Pope says that 1 in 50 Catholic clerics (2%) are pedophiles. (1) But the 2004 John Jay Report, based on a study of accusations of sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy between 1950 and 2002, indicated involvement by 1 out of 25 ordained Catholic clergy (4%). (2) And a 2023 report by the Attorney General of Illinois accused as many as 5% (1 out of 20) of all Catholic clergy operating in Illinois between 1950 and 2020 of abuse. (3) Some Catholics respond to these charges with a yawn and counter that these numbers are no worse than the percentage of pedophiles who teach in public schools. And that is likely a true statement. Studies indicate an estimated 5% of public school teachers are pedophiles (4) compared to an estimated 1-2% in the general population. Pedophiles apparently — consciously or unconsciously — gravitate toward jobs that place them in up-close, trusted relationships with children. However, in choosing the argument that their clerics molest children no more than public school teachers, Catholics are admitting that their church — as old and rich and powerful as it is — is simply one more human organization. Noting that Catholic clergy — called and ordained, and according to the Bible, touched and changed by Jesus — are just as likely to be pedophiles as public school teachers is not a winning argument! Furthermore, a self-serving “protect our image at all costs” approach by this “divine organization” called Catholicism is evident in its repeated and disgusting attempts — often at least temporarily “successful” — to hide the abuse of children in their churches and schools, often quietly transferring the offender to another location where that perpetrator could resume his cycle of grooming and abusing. And this has not gone unnoticed by many good people who are Catholics. IRELAND 2010 - Child abuse scandal shatters Irish faith in Catholic Church: Patsy McGarry, religious affairs correspondent for the Irish Times newspaper said: “More than 90 percent of Irish people attended mass at least once a week in the 1970s. Today the figure is about half that. The church has lost working-class urban Ireland. The faithful were shocked and disgusted to learn that Irish bishops had covered up abuse in the name of protecting the church and its priests.” (5) And the number of children affected is staggering. Here's one example: FRANCE 2021 - At Least 330,000 Minors Were Victims Of Sex Abuse In The French Catholic Church Since 1950, Report Finds: 216,000 children were sexually abused by 2,900 Catholic clerics. Adding sexual assaults by lay members of Catholic churches in France to the totals increased the number of victims to 330,000 and perpetrators to 3,200. (6) Can the Catholic church, will the Catholic church do what must be done? MARCH 29, 2023 – An Unfortunate Resignation: “This morning, Fr. Hans Zollner, the chief architect of Pope Francis’s clergy sex abuse policy, announced his resignation from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. The Commission, established in 2014, is the centerpiece of Pope Francis’s response to the global clergy sexual abuse catastrophe. The Commission’s mandate, according to Zollner, was to ensure “responsibility, compliance, accountability, and transparency.” After nine years in the Commission, Zollner has confirmed through his resignation statement that the Commission has failed on all four counts. Zollner’s resignation clearly signifies that the Commission, and therefore Pope Francis’s entire abuse management strategy, is unsalvageable.” (7) Note on the Boy Scouts: A quick analysis of the number of volunteers and child abuse lawsuits in the Boy Scouts organization suggests that around 1.5% of Boy Scout volunteers were involved in sexual abuse of boys in the organization. (1)npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/… (2)en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_J… (3)courthousenews.com/illinois-… (4)floridaactioncommittee.org/l… (5)cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/03… (6)forbes.com/sites/siladityara… (7)ecaglobal.org/popes-chief-ar…