Child Sexual Abuse Within the Catholic Church
Date
2015
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Publisher
St. Cloud State University
Abstract
In May 2013, Minnesota passed the “Child Victims Act” which allowed victims of child sexual
abuse a three-year window to report their abuse, regardless of when the abuse occurred
(“Minnesota Child Victims Act,” 2015). Since this legislation was enacted, hundreds of
childhood victims of clergy sexual abuse have come forward within the state of Minnesota.
Furthermore, numerous lawsuits have occurred, which have required dioceses across the state to
release the names and personnel files of priests credibly accused of child sexual abuse. This
exploratory study focuses on disclosures by examining five personnel files of credibly accused
priests. The research questions guiding this study include: 1) What variables are available for
examination within each priest file? 2) What are the characteristics of priests credibly accused of
child sexual abuse? 3) What policy implications do these findings have for the Catholic Church,
offenders and victims? Based on the analysis of these five personnel files, 166 variables were
identified including the priest’s personal history, parish and assignment history at the time of the
sexual abuse allegation, sexual abuse allegation(s), treatment history and community and church
response. The findings from the univariate analysis of these variables provide suggestions for
future studies and policies centered on youth school systems, seminary schools, child sexual
abuse reporting procedures, investigation strategies and treatment programs.
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Keywords
Catholic Church, institutional abuse, child sexual abuse
Citation
Hansen, M. A. (2015). Child Sexual Abuse Within the Catholic Church.