11/5/2007

by Louise Haggett

To the Editor:

   Statements were made recently that the Catholic Church's "clerical system" (power and control) is the primary cause of sexual abuse. Both quantitative and qualitative research provide evidence of a very different scenario:

   Mandatory celibacy—the Catholic hierarchy’s ultimate control strategy over priests, leading to… Intense loneliness—a severe reaction by the majority of priests for whom obligatory celibacy is not a natural state (only 2% have the gift), leading to…
Clergy sexual abuse—priest perpetrators feeding their intimacy needs through victims, using the same “power and control” strategy forced upon them by the institution in making celibacy mandatory.

   The above conclusion was the result of sociological research conducted among clerical priests and abuse victims and reported in the book The Bingo Report: mandatory celibacy and clergy sexual abuse. The clerical system is responsible for making celibacy mandatory among its priests. However, the affect of mandatory celibacy is manifested in psychological, substance abuse and sexual abuse by those whose sexuality has been suppressed for a length of time (i.e., among priests the average age of sexual perpetrators is 39--14-15 years after ordination--whereas among general population abuse, the average age is 32). There are many other demographic differences as well between clergy sexual abuse and general population sexual abuse, evidence of which is in The Bingo Report.

   In addition to the sociological (quantitative) research presented in The Bingo Report, there now is psychological research that supports the same conclusion. The book is entitled, "Predatory Priests, Silenced Victims: The sexual abuse crisis and the Catholic Church" by Dr. Virginia Goldner and Mary Gail Frawley.

   Comments such as those made in the recent VOTF news article are subjective and without foundation. The Catholic Church also denies that mandatory celibacy and clergy sexual abuse are connected. But then, they also denied for decades that clergy sexual abuse even existed.

Both books are available on Amazon.com.
Louise Haggett, Author
The Bingo Report
77 Shore Drive
Freeport, ME 04032
207-865-1220