Backgrounder: Receding Waves (522 KB) (Released on 29-May-2019)
Male victimization and homosexual priests rose together through the 1980s and have since fallen together. These twin waves have largely receded.
Female victimization has not fallen, persisting today at roughly the same level as in the 1980s. See the figure below.
Key Findings:
Recent Abuse is Different:
Recently Ordained Priests Appear to be Different:
Recommendations:
The Ruth Institute is a global non-profit organization equipping Christians to defend their beliefs about the family to create a culture of lifelong married love. The Ruth Institute has responded to the latest round of clergy sex abuse revelations by encouraging the laity to do two things:
Only by doing these can we put an end to the scourge of clergy sexual abuse.
The Ruth Institute would like to thank retired journalist G.R. Pafumi for sharing his data, described in our report as the SACCADAS database. Pafumi’s research is housed at VictimsSpeakDB.org.
To schedule an interview with Dr. Morse or Fr. Sullins, contact: media@ruthinstitute.org
Receding Waves Report (672 KB) Follow-up study to Dr. Paul Sullins' "Clergy Sex Abuse" report, analyzing trends from 2000 onward. (Released on 06-Jun-2019)