An inquiry examining institutional sex abuse in Australia has heard 7% of the nation's Catholic priests allegedly abused children between 1950 and 2010. In one religious order, over 40% of church figures were accused of abuse.
The full scale of the problem emerged on Monday, when the commission released the statistics it has gathered.
Gail Furness, the lead lawyer assisting the commission in Sydney, said more than 1,000 Catholic institutions across Australia were identified in claims of sexual abuse, with a total of 1,880 alleged perpetrators between 1980 and 2015.
The average age of the victims was 10.5 for girls and 11.5 for boys. On average, it took 33 years for each instance of abuse to be reported.
Percentage of church figures behind alleged abuse, 1950-2010
Religious institution Percentage
- St John of God Brothers 40.4
- Christian Brothers 22.0
- Salesians of Don Bosco 21.9
- Marist Brothers 20.4
- De La Salle Brothers 13.8
- Patrician Brothers 12.4
- Society of Jesus 4.8
- Missionaries of the Sacred Heart 3.3
- Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart 0.6
- Sisters of Mercy (Brisbane) 0.3
(http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-38877158))
I think it would be worth digging into these institutions outside of Australia...
view the rest of the comments →
Gbuggers ago
I bet its higher than 7%
MolochHunter ago
And even if it were only 7%, people have to be taught that the nature of paedophilia is to congregate at the upper echelons of any organisation. You get one pedo in the heirarchy in a position to recruit others into the middle management. New position opens, two candidates. One is known by the pedo boss to also be a pedo, the other isnt. Who do you think gets that job? Who would help defend the original pedo from suspicion?
This thing grows in the shadows until the everyday citizen get in their mind a basic equation: The more powerful and influential someone is, the greater likelihood they are a pedo, or are knowingly accommodative of pedos
Gbuggers ago
Well said