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What the Experts Say

Experts from many denominations report on the dramatic extent and harmful impact of sexual boundary violation of adults by ministers, pastors, priests, rabbis and other clergy.  In contrast, news accounts of allegations of sexual violations of women and men by clergy often show confusion among the general public about the nature of sexual exploitation of adults by clergy.

• The largest national study of clergy sexual misconduct with adults will be published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion in late 2009. The Baylor University School of Social Work research was funded by the Ford Foundation. Click here for background information on the goals of this study.

  Dean of Baylor University School of Social Work Professor Diana Garland said she was surprised by the magnitude of the problem and "had never imagined the extent."

  "We knew anecdotally that clergy sexual misconduct with adults is a huge problem, but we were surprised it is so prevalent across all denominations, all religions, all faith groups, all across the country," she said.

• Laurie Goodstein, national religion correspondent for the New York Times, responded to the criticism of Timothy Dolan, archbishop of the New York diocese. Goodstein posted her letter on Dolan's blog on November 4, 2009:

  "I wrote the story [on Henry Willenborg] because church officials have said privately to me over the years that priests who violate their vows with adult women are far more common than priests who sexually abuse minors."

  See Goodstein's letter to Dolan at:

  www.archny.org/news-events/columns-and-blogs/blog---the-gospel-in-the-digital-age/index.cfm?i=14042

• According to the Rev. Dr. Marie Fortune, Executive Director of the Faith Trust Institute in Seattle, adult victims of sexual exploitation by clergy "will be the next wave of the tsunami to hit the church" relative to the child victims of clergy sexual abuse.

• Rev. Pamela Cooper-White, former director of the Center for Women and Religion at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, and currently Professor of Pastoral Theology at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia estimates that the vast majority of victims of sexual exploitation by clergy, more than 95 percent, are women.

• In her 1995 book The Cry of Tamar, the Rev. Pamela Cooper-White suggests that "somewhere from one out of eight to one out of three clergy have crossed sexual boundaries with their parishioners."

• Angela Bonavoglia in her 2005 book Good Catholic Girls: How Women are Leading the Fight to Change the Church states:

  "While the current crisis has spotlighted the abuse of minors by Catholic priests, the reality is that the abuse of children is just the tip of the iceberg . . . children are not, nor have they ever been, Catholic clergy's only victims. In fact, the sexual involvement of Catholic priests with adults far exceeds their involvement with minors, and women caught in those relationships are arguably in the greater danger of exploitation." (Bonavoglia, Chapter 5, "Women, Priests, and the Myth of Celibacy," p. 85)

• A 1993 study published in the Journal of Pastoral Care found that 14% of Southern Baptist pastors responding to a survey admitted to inappropriate sexual contact with a congregant; in the same survey 70% of respondents said they had knowledge of another minister who had sexual contact with a congregant.

• Stephanie Hixon, member of the United Methodist General Secretariat of the Commission on the Status and Role of Women, remarked at a 2001 UM-sponsored workshop that "the largest population of victim/survivors of clergy sexual misconduct [in the Methodist church] is women."

• Julie Sevig, section editor of The Lutheran, stated in a 2002 special issue of this denominational newsmagazine that "the typical pattern of clergy sexual abuse in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America involves a male pastor and adult female."

• Alexa Smith, in a 2000 cover article for Presbyterians Today, reported that the Office of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA estimates there are about 50 clergy sexual misconduct cases every year. Cases in the PCUSA, according to Smith, "tend to involve adult women and male pastors."

• Dr. Gary Schoener, Executive Director of the Walk-In Counseling Center in Minneapolis which serves both offenders and victims of clergy sexual abuse, has consulted on over 2,000 cases of clergy sexual abuse and is one of the most outspoken experts on this issue. In a 2006 interview aired on the PBS newsweekly Religion and Ethics he stated that "far more clergy have sexual contact with adult women or late adolescent girls than they do with kids of either gender" adding that "it's a widespread problem."

• Schoener told the St. Petersburg Times in a 2002 article that "17 states see even adult relationships with priests as a type of statutory rape. The victim can't possibly consent because the power relationship so clouds the issue."

• Similar estimates are put forth by A. W. Richard Sipe, therapist and former Benedictine monk, in his 1995 book Sex, Priests, and Power. Based on his research, Sipe concludes that "at any one time 20% of priests are involved in a sexual relationship with a woman."

• Sipe told the St. Petersburg Times in a 2002 article that "about four times as many priests get involved with adult women as with minors."

• Several reports cited by Kathryn Flynn in her comprehensive study of The Sexual Abuse of Women by Members of the Clergy published in 2003 substantiate the claim that "clergy are exploiting their parishioners at twice the rate of secular therapists."

• A United Church of Canada sexual abuse panel reported that "women are more likely to experience sexual harassment in the church than in the workplace."

• Dr. Rene Drumm, chair of the Department of Social Work and Family Studies at Southern Adventist University, in Collegedale, Tennessee states in her article "Why Pastoral Affair Is An Oxymoron: Thoughts On Clergy Sexual Misconduct" published in Adventist Today (May 1, 2005):

  Because of their moral and spiritual authority, pastors are not allowed the luxury of having "affairs." Affairs can happen only between equally powerful, consenting adults. When a pastor becomes romantically involved with a parishioner, it is not properly considered an affair. Instead it is a blatant breach of ethical standards. This violation of ethical standards then becomes a legal liability.

• Anglican Church in Australia Sex Offender Registry and Church of England Archbishop's List.

  Bernard Lagan. "Names of cheating clergy will be put on register of sex offenders." Times Online (October 24, 2007).

  Andrew Norfolk. "Church of England lists sinner priests." Times Online (October 24, 2007).

• Emma Humphreys Prize 2004 awarded to Margaret Kennedy "primarily for the way she has taken on Christian, and especially the Catholic, church in the UK, not just in relation to the sexual abuse of children but sexual exploitation of adult women by Christian clergy." In a December 2004 article in the Journal of Adult Protection Kennedy discusses her work:

  The 250 women I have supported over the last eight years who were sexually molested, coerced, exploited and manipulated into having sex with the clergymen from whom they sought help and refuge were vulnerable and looking for help. They were not looking for their pastor to engage them in sex. This must be seen within the continuum of sexual violation against women.