Maybe I'm not completely understanding what you're saying about a double standard, Ed. I'm not able to find data on early responses by dioceses to sex molestation by priests. I'm guessing that if insurance companies refused to insure dioceses against such claims as early as 1986, that many dioceses must have had a system of paying damages and offering counseling that was similar to mine. It's been my belief that most dioceses had such a system set up, but I have direct knowledge of such systems only in Sacramento and Milwaukee, the two dioceses where I worked for many years as both volunteer and employee. The 2004 John Jay Report says that 74 percent of U.S. Catholic dioceses had made payment for victim treatment. I'm sure that some of those dioceses didn't pay much; and the fact that 26 percent of dioceses paid nothing, is indeed deplorable. The 200-page PDF of the John Jay Report is available here (click). Information on treatment and compensation of victims begins on page 103.

Even in the 1960s, when I was a seminarian in Milwaukee, the archdiocese had a serious concern about sexual abuse by priests. The screening process we went through in college was lengthy and intensive.

It's the callous responses that get covered in the press, so one can easily get the impression that the "dark side" is the predominant side. I think that there were many dioceses that showed a genuine concern about sexual abuse by priests, but you don't hear about those dioceses. But it's clear from the John Jay report that 26 percent of dioceses made no attempt to pay for treatment of victims of sex abuse by priests - and that's deplorable.

The Wikipedia article on Catholic sex abuse cases has a lot of good information, but not the historical detail I'd like to see. The John Jay Report gives a lot of good information - and the executive summary at the beginning is a reasonable amount of reading that will give a good overview.

For most of my life, I have subscribed to the Jesuit America Magazine, and the independent National Catholic Reporter. I have also occasionally subscribed to the independent Commonweal Magazine. To my mind, these are the three magazines that thinking American Catholics read - my parents subscribed to the Jesuit America Magazine when I was a kid, and I began subscribing to National Catholic Reporter when I was in college. All three have been highly critical of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church for many, many years - and I think their coverage of this issue has been brutally honest. Since America is owned by a religious order, Rome was able to force the removal of one editor, Fr. Tom Reese, but America soon bounced back with even more forceful coverage. Of the three, I'd say that America is the most popular. I think most U.S. priests have ready access to it. I would say that the general attitude of these publications toward the sex abuse crisis has been "agonized soul-searching." These three publications never seem to cover up anything, and they never seem afraid to ask any question. They have always acknowledged sex abuse as a serious problem in the Catholic Church. Other Catholic publications have occasionally made some mention of the sex abuse crisis, but it's rare that they discuss the matter seriously. And then there are a few that either deny the abuse completely, or blame it all on heretical liberals.

I think I have a fairly balanced perspective on the sexual abuse crisis in the U.S. I've studied it quite closely since the 1960s. But I have a friend, Esther, a tough old nun in her eighties, who isn't so sure I have it straight. One time she said, "Joe, you don't know the half of it. We told them (the diocese) years and years ago, and they just didn't listen." Esther is one of the most honest and insightful people I know. If she has questions, then I have to keep asking questions.

-Joe-

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One other thing - here's a 2004 article for Hearst newspapers by Thomas G. Plante, one of the foremost experts on the U.S. Catholic sex abuse crisis: http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Sexual-abuse-by-Catholic-priests-Next-steps-2785669.php. An excerpt:

The much anticipated document from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York stated that 4,392 priests (4 percent of the U.S. total) sexually victimized 10,667 children during the past 52 years. The report noted that 81 percent of the victims were boys, with two-thirds being teenagers. Most of the abuse occurred in the 1970s (70 percent of the offending priests were ordained on or before 1970), with significant declines by the 1980s and 1990s. In a separate report also commissioned by American Catholic bishops, the National Review Board for the Protection of Children and Young People, composed of lay persons, chastised the bishops for how they dealt with child-abuse allegations over the years.

How do we put these numbers in perspective? Tragically, the best available data from both the federal government and a number of independent researchers suggest that sexual victimization of children is neither rare nor confined to the Catholic Church. In fact, about 20 percent of American women and 15 percent of American men report that they were victims of child sexual abuse, with about 80 percent reporting that the abuse was perpetrated by a family member. Sexual abuse by other groups of men who have regular unsupervised contact with and power over children appears to occur at levels similar to those associated with priests. About 5 percent of school teachers, for instance, have sexually victimized a student; 15 percent of Americans report being the target of sexual misconduct by a teacher while in primary or secondary school. Apparently, other groups also need to conduct their own John Jay study.

We naturally expect better behavior from religious leaders such as priests than from other men, however. Furthermore, we expect that church officials would deal with sexual abuse allegations with concern, responsibility and stellar ethics. Tragically, we have come to realize that some priests and bishops behaved very badly.

The frequent recent reminders of the clergy sexual abuse problem in the American Catholic Church can't feel very good for anyone. Victims and their families are often retraumatized and thwarted in their attempts to heal and move on with their lives. The 96 percent of priests who have not abused children as well as average Catholics in the pews once again feel saddened, depressed and angry. They must find ways to make sense of such horrific behavior among their clergy as well as defend their faith tradition from frequent attacks, ridicule and jokes.