1 1 Catholic Clergy Sexual Abuse Meets the Civil Law by Thomas P ...

and supervision during their formative years. 122 Any mentoring these individuals might have
received as young priests centered around the performance of their priestly duties, and not on
their total human development. 123 The disturbing percentage of underdeveloped and
maldeveloped priests at the time of the study was a clarion call for a close examination of the
seminary training system and the clerical world in general. Yet the Church’s official response
was devoid of any further investigations or action proposals. 124
Many of the incidents that have prompted recent civil suits took place during the era
when the Kennedy and Baars reports were written. 125 This was a time of intense criticism of the
clerical lifestyle, particularly with regards to celibacy, as well as an era of unprecedented
departures from the priesthood. 126 Although sexual abuse issues did not gain widespread public
attention until the mid-1980s, many of the psychological symptoms, such as under-developed
sexuality and emotional immaturity, were likely obvious traits of these perpetrators at least a
decade prior to the first notorious clergy sex abuse case, as is evidenced by Baars’ paper,
recommendations, and the Kennedy-Heckler study. 127
122 Id. at 15-16.
123 See id. at 79-93.
124 Balboni, supra note 101, at 87-88. “But I could find no evidence that the NCCB [National Conference of
Catholic Bishops] initiated discussions on the findings of the psychological report, made any attempts to follow
through on the suggestions made to respond to the needs of the struggling priests, to address the questions raised by
the study, or to urge the bishops to attempt diocesan responses to the institutional call for setting priorities.” Id. at
87-88.
125 There are no scientific studies or statistics on the age of the victims of sexual abuse, or the age at which the abuse
was reported. This statement is based on the authors’ combined experience dealing with significant numbers of
adult victims who alleged clergy abuse during their early teen years.
126 See David Rice, Shattered Vows: Priests Who Leave 10-11 (1990). Between 1965 and 1990 approximately
100,000 Roman Catholic priests left the priesthood. Sociologist Richard Schoenherr estimates that forty-two percent
of priests in the United States have left or will leave before they have completed twenty-five years of priesthood. Id.
at 10-11.
127 See Baars, supra note 108. See also Kennedy & Heckler, supra note 115.
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