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

treatment centers has not been adequately used by the Catholic bishops. 149 The Institute for the
Living reports having treated about 600 Catholic priests by 2002. 150 The Paraclete Fathers report
having treated about 2000 priests for a variety of issues between 1947 and 1968. 151 In the mid
1990s, a group of psychotherapists from several hospitals in the United States treating clergy sex
offenders asked the United States Catholic Bishops to approve a research project which would
study the data to assess causes, patterns of behavior, and after-care issues. 152 The bishops
refused to approve the project. 153 Ironically, the bishops allege that they lack sufficient
information to tackle the problem of clergy sex abuse, yet when presented with a serious offer to
study a mass of available clinical data from several health care institutions, they refused. 154
When presented with clinical assessments, diagnoses, and recommendations concerning specific
abusers, some Church leaders ignored recommendations and misconstrued data. 155 In view of
the fact that sexual abuse of children and minors is a felony crime in the United States and most
other countries, it is difficult to accept the excuse that adult men in important leadership
positions in a church with a strict code of sexual morality do not grasp the serious nature of
sexual abuse. They may not have had in-depth knowledge of the more complex clinical aspects
149
Jason Berry, Above the Fray: The Vatican Remains Detached in Pedophilia Crisis Despite Scores of Abuse Cases
Over the Years, Rome Has Yet to Investigate Problem’s Roots, Boston Globe, Feb. 3, 2002, at C1. “The Vatican
has not since developed a response policy nor, most critically, has there to this day been a principled investigation of
root causes. In the mid-'90s a group of psychotherapists at US hospitals treating clerical sex offenders asked the
bishops to approve a research project, pooling clinicians' findings, assessing causes and patterns.
‘The bishops refused,’says Dr. Leslie Lothstein of the Institute for Living in Hartford. ‘Maybe their lawyers were ag
ainst it.’” Id.
150
See DeGuilio, supra note 145. “Dr. Leslie Lothstein is the Director of Psychology at the Institute of Living, part
of Hartford Hospital’s Mental Health Network. He has been at the Institute of Living for 16 years. Before that, he
was at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio. Lothstein estimates that he and his colleagues have treated 600
Catholic priests, 100 Protestant ministers, 1 rabbi and about 50 religious women who come from all over the world.”
151
Barry, supra note 137.
152
Berry, supra note 141.
153
Id. Information on this proposal has been obtained from some of those who originated it but there is no official
documentation available.
154
Id.
155
See DeGiulio, supra note 145.
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