Response to Mr. Gough Regarding the Catholic Sex Abuse Scandal and Overdue Parish Expansion

Mr. Gough’s zeal is admirable, but his grasp of the facts is not. I wish that more people cared about the welfare of children, particularly those children who have been victims of abuse and the sexualization of our culture. But the record must be corrected, so here are the facts as I, a layperson speaking only for myself, understand them.

First two corrections:

Arlington is a diocese, not an archdiocese.

It seems difficult to believe that “37 archdiocese in America” are declaring bankruptcy when there are only 34 archdioceses in the United States (35 if we count the armed services). Of those, 5 are currently in bankruptcy proceedings. I am assuming that Mr. Gough intends to refer to dioceses in general and not just the metropolitan archdioceses (both exist at the same “level”, an archdiocese is not composed of dioceses). Of all the 178 Catholic dioceses and archdioceses in the USA, 14 are currently in bankruptcy proceedings. Going as far back as the 2004 there have been 32 bankruptcies in total (including currently pending) but I am not sure where Mr. Gough gets the number 37.

Now two points regarding Mr. Gough’s misconceptions of the Catholic sex abuse crisis:

The 11,000 victims of Catholic sexual abuse figure cited by Mr. Gough comes from the 2004 John Jay report, which surveyed records from 1950 to 2002. What is seldom mentioned about this report is that the vast majority of accusations occurred from 1960 to the early 1980s. In the 1980s the Catholic Church began putting into place policies which have largely been followed and generally been extraordinarily effective. From 2015 to 2017 there were only 22 allegations of sexual abuse taking place during that period throughout the entire US Catholic Church. This is of course still unacceptable, but it is not the ongoing tidal wave that Mr. Gough portrays. The abuse crisis is largely dead. Insurance companies don’t even see any difference in liability for sex abuse between Catholic Churches or any other religious organization.

We would do better to focus our attention on public schools, which continue to be

hotbeds of exactly the kind of misconduct that Mr. Gough imagines the Catholic Church to be guilty of. The 2004 Shakeshaft report from the US Department of Education reports that from 1991 to 2000 personnel at US schools sexually victimized 290,000 children. By one estimate in her study, 1 out of every 10 students becomes a victim of sexual abuse at some point during their school career. Whereas the Catholic Church implemented effective policies, schools still have massive issues with sexual assault and rape. From 2017-2018 alone the Department of Education documented 14,152 sexual assaults (including 786 rapes or attempted rapes). Most troubling, these numbers appear to be increasing.

Mr. Gough should reconsider his position regarding some of the books in Samuels library. For example, one book that is currently available is “It’s Perfectly Normal” which provides instructions and illustrations for children on how to masturbate. If an adult pulled that book off the shelf, opened it to page 48, and encouraged a minor child to read it I would argue that would constitute sexual abuse. Does Mr. Gough know that this material is available? Few critics of the “Clean up Samuels” movement seem to be aware of the particular books they are endorsing.

Finally, the Warrant County Board of Supervisors must endorse the proposed expansion. Anyone who attends St. John’s parish knows that if you do not arrive early for Mass there is standing room only, filling up not just the main hall with dozens of standing parishioners, but also the adjacent adoration chapel where a video feed of the Mass is offered. Even on weekday Mass, the main hall is completely full. Expansion is long overdue.

Travis Wakeman
Front Royal, Va.