Perspective – The USCCB commissioned a study of sexual abuse in the catholic church in the US. The study was conducted by John Jay College and numerous articles have been published since 2004 when the initial results were first released. One key finding was that between 1950 to 2002 the occurrence of child sexual abuse appeared to peak in the mid 1970’s and has declined since then. The discovery and exposing of child sexual abuse in Europe will need to be studied to fully understand the scope and nature of abuse patterns. There are lessons learned and new more rigorous responses already in place in the USA as a result of the USCCB actions in 2002. The most recent results from this study was released in May 2011. There are still misconceptions about the relationship between pedophilia, child sexual abuse, and homosexuality which distort effective interventions.
