Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Child sex abuse by US Catholic clergy, Hand of God - Frontline

Child sex abuse by US Catholic clergy down sharply: study Mar 23, 2010 WASHINGTON (AFP) - Pay-outs by the US Roman Catholic church for child abuse cases involving clergy members fell to a six-year low last year but remained in the nine-figure range, an annual US report tracking clergy sex abuse of minors said Tuesday. Nearly 400 new, credible allegations of clergy sex abuse were reported in 2009, said the report, which comes as the Roman Catholic church struggles to deal with thousands of alleged sex offenses by clerics against children in Europe and South America. In the United States, the Roman Catholic church paid out 104,439,629 dollars last year in costs related to sex abuse cases, more than half of the money - 55 million dollars - in settlements for victims, the report showed.

The 193 dioceses around the United States that provided data for the report said they received 398 new credible allegations last year of sexual abuse committed by priests and deacons against children. The vast majority dated from decades ago, but six involved children who were under the age of 18 in 2009. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100323/ts_alt_afp/usreligioncatholiccrimesexchild_20100323183323


Hand of God - Frontline 1/6/07 In recent decades, more than 10,000 children were reportedly sexually abused by Catholic priests in the United States. In "Hand of God," filmmaker Joe Cultrera explores just one of those cases, that of his own brother Paul. Paul Cultrera was molested in the 1960s by Father Joseph Birmingham, who allegedly abused nearly 100 other children. "Hand of God" tells the story of faith betrayed, and how Paul and the rest of the Cultrera family fought back against a scandal that continues to afflict scores of churches across the country. Contains frank descriptions of sexual conduct. Viewer discretion is advised.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/handofgod/view/?utm_campaign=viewpage&utm_medium=grid&utm_source=grid

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