Haley Halverson, Vice President of Advocacy and Outreach, at NCOSE wrote an op-ed for Townhall.com about sexual abuse in churches. Below are excerpts of the op-ed, along with curated resources.
This week a grand jury reported on documents from six Catholic Church dioceses in Pennsylvania that revealed 300 “predator priests” have been accused of sexually abusing over 1,000 children.
The grand jury report states: “We believe that the real number – of children whose records were lost, or who were afraid ever to come forward – is in the thousands. Most of the victims were boys; but there were girls too. Some were teens; many were prepubescent… But all of them were brushed aside, in every part of the state, by church leaders who preferred to protect the abusers and their institution above all.”
This report has sent shock waves through the world, akin to the 2002 Boston Globe report on a priest accused of molesting more than 80 boys who was shielded by the Catholic Church.
The grand jury rightly stated: “There have been other reports about child sex abuse within the Catholic Church. But never on this scale.”
The Catholic Church is not alone. Many churches and religious institutions have been accused of perpetuating sexual abuse, to various degrees.
In Evangelical Christian church circles, amidst the #MeToo movement, high-profile leaders have been accused of sexual assault. Leaders like Paige Patterson, the president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, was forced to retire after it was reported that he told a rape victim to forgive her attacker instead of calling the police….
In the Mormon church, there have also been scandals, such as the recent case of Joseph L. Bishop, a retired president of the Provo Missionary Training Center, who admitted to molesting at least one female missionary. News reports state that the victim reported the incident to her local bishop, but that the local bishop ignored it because he “wasn’t going to risk sullying the reputation of someone based on that kind of a report.” …
There have been accusations of sexual abuse amongst Orthodox Jewish Rabbis, international Buddhist leaders, Muslim pilgrimages, and more….
READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE
Tragically, sexual abuse is in every sector: including religion. The #CatholicChurch is not alone. Wherever there are people (especially with factors of authority and institutional self-preservation) sexual abuse is a problem.… Click To TweetNo matter where abuse occurs, it is always wrong, and should be reported. There are several specific resources listed below. You can also visit our Resource Center for more.
National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE
National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE
National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-252-2873, 1-800-25ABUSE
RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network)
- Find a local Crisis and Counseling Center (Open 24/7)
- National Sexual Assault Online Hotline (Open 24/7) Live help for sexual assault victims, and their friends and families. Chat with someone for free and confidentially
GRACE: Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment
- Empowering and training Christian communities to recognize, prevent, and respond to child abuse
- Keeping Children Safe sets rigorous International Child Safeguarding Standards to help organizations protect children from exploitation and abuse.
- Resources for male survivors of abuse include a 24/7 online support line offering 1-on-1 chat with a trained advocate, our free and confidential online peer support groups which meet weekly, and a wealth of useful information, including answers to common questions and an explanation of certain myths & facts.
Talk About Abuse to Liberate Kids – TAALK.org
- TAALK has many resources and a private forum with one section that is specifically for parents of children who have been sexually abused: https://taalk.org/forum.html
Visit our Resource Center for more.
