How many Catholic parishes in the DC area have had a priest accused of child abuse?

[Anonymous]

The priest at a parish near us was recently accused of child sexual abuse (albeit a long time ago). I know that this is common at a national level and have read a lot about it. But does it happen frequently in this area? Are people coming forward more frequently now to report child abuse carried out by a priest? How do the arch/dioceses of Washington and Arlington rank in their handling of these incidents?

Just trying to see if anyone has more information than I do....

[Anonymous]

Are you a reporter looking for us to do your research?

You could start by searching for Archdiocese of Arlington for example and add in priest+sexual abuse.

[Anonymous]

OP are you Jewish?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP are you Jewish?

I'm the OP. I'm not Catholic, not Jewish, not anything except maybe agnostic. Just a parent of a Catholic school kid so trying to learn about what is going on.

Thanks for the ideas on how to research this. By posting, I was hoping I might find someone who was in the 'know' and could give me some information without having to do all of the research myself. I have a full time job that is not being a reporter!

[Anonymous]

Georgetown Prep has had a scandal.

Holy Child about 10 years ago as well.

I don’t know if any recent ones

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Georgetown Prep has had a scandal.

Holy Child about 10 years ago as well.

I don’t know if any recent ones

Sacred heart

[Anonymous]

Here is the list

https://patch.com/maryland/baltimore/list-maryland-priests-accused-child-sexual-abuse

[Anonymous]

There isn’t clear list to reference; the official DC list does not provide assignment info. Best thing is to go to website of Bishop Accountability and search their database by diocese. When available each listing provides assignments. Figures on percentage of Catholic priests who are abusers is difficult to confirm; figures I’ve seen vary from 5% to 14%. Problem is those who have been harmed do not usually report immediately due to shame and fear. Average age of disclosure is 52, and about a third never tell anyone. Knowing a parish had an abuser priest does nothing to predict if they have or will have others. https://www.bishop-accountability.org/accused/

[Anonymous]

Thanks to the previous poster for sharing the Bishop Accountability website link.

While I would never say never (and it seems only one priest was arrested and jailed for actions in 2018 and immediately reported), what I can tell you is that it has become much harder for young people to be sexually abused by priests.

There are far fewer priests. Next, there are just fewer opportunities to be alone with minors. Almost all the kid/youth activities I have been involved in, including a service learning trip for a week, required multiple chaparones. Kids are not left alone with just one adult making access to kids difficult.

Also, if you are a volunteer, you have to undergo a thorough background check - to include fingerprints and training to recognize 'grooming" techniques. This included a movie which was tough to watch. I think there certainly is a hypervigilance of parents/youth workers and the clergy around here.

[Anonymous]

Not sure exactly why Jeff decided to delete the last several posts. He's not Catholic and there was nothing wrong with those posts. I don't think he understands that all the child abuse teaching the Catholic Church is doing is just gaslighting to make this issue about "all lives can abuse kids" rather than sexually suppressed men who can't control their urges, most regularly priests but also other sexually repressed men that the Catholic Church home grows. There is little research into why this is actually happening on the Church's side, so until this is understood as well as understanding why there are cover-ups and actually creating incentives to report and get help, I don't see anything changing for actual children.

Also, I think it's important to understand the statute of limitations for reporting which was also deleted here.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure exactly why Jeff decided to delete the last several posts. He's not Catholic and there was nothing wrong with those posts. I don't think he understands that all the child abuse teaching the Catholic Church is doing is just gaslighting to make this issue about "all lives can abuse kids" rather than sexually suppressed men who can't control their urges, most regularly priests but also other sexually repressed men that the Catholic Church home grows. There is little research into why this is actually happening on the Church's side, so until this is understood as well as understanding why there are cover-ups and actually creating incentives to report and get help, I don't see anything changing for actual children.

Also, I think it's important to understand the statute of limitations for reporting which was also deleted here.

The reason the posts were deleted is that they, like this post, were off topic. The thread is not a debate about abuse within the Catholic Church, but rather how many parishes in the DC area have had a priest accused of child abuse. If you can answer that specific question, please do. Otherwise, this is not the thread for you. Off-topic posts will be removed and those who repeatedly violate that guideline will be blocked.

[Anonymous]

I know this is online in DC. Can’t say for sure about Arlington or Baltimore.

[Anonymous]

If you are looking at schools, its probably best to compare secular schools against catholic ones as well. Sexual abuse seems to happen everywhere -- the question to me is if its happening more often in catholic schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Georgetown Prep has had a scandal.

Holy Child about 10 years ago as well.

I don’t know if any recent ones

Holy Child it was not a priest. It was a computer science teacher guy, and he was removed immediately. In schools it will be as risky as any other school. We had no priests at all on staff at HC when I was there. I knew the guy BTW and while I wouldn't call him NOT creepy, its not like he abused everyone he came in contact with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Georgetown Prep has had a scandal.

Holy Child about 10 years ago as well.

I don’t know if any recent ones

Holy Child it was not a priest. It was a computer science teacher guy, and he was removed immediately. In schools it will be as risky as any other school. We had no priests at all on staff at HC when I was there. I knew the guy BTW and while I wouldn't call him NOT creepy, its not like he abused everyone he came in contact with.

This reads like I'm defending him. I'm not, I guess I'm just saying that these people could be anywhere, you don't know, but odds are your kid will be safe and the best thing you can do is to ensure they are not the kind of child that would be targeted (confidence, openness, ethics etc)