In late June, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection released its audit on clergy sexual abuse that covers the period July 1, 2018 – June 30, 2019.
During this time, there were 37 allegations made by current minors. Eight were substantiated, 7 were unsubstantiated, 6 were unable to be proven, 12 are still being investigated, 3 were referred to religious orders, and 1 was referred to another diocese.
Of the 49,972 members of the clergy (33,628 priests and 16,344 deacons), .07% (37) had an accusation made against them for abusing a minor. However, since only .016% (8) could be substantiated, that means that 99.98% of priests did not have a substantiated accusation made against them.
In other words, clergy sexual abuse is near 0%.
It is hardly surprising that the media are ignoring this story. The only stories about the Catholic Church that they see fit to print or air are those that put the Church in a negative light. That they wallow in dirt cannot be denied.
Had there been a serious uptick in substantiated allegations, it would have been all over the news. In fact, some writers literally got angry that we reported the good news. This tells us everything: Bad news about the Catholic Church is seen as good news in many quarters, and vice versa.
No institution in society, secular or religious, can match the progress that the Catholic Church has achieved.
