Sexual abuse by Catholic clergy became the subject of
widespread publicly in 1984 with the celebrated case of Father Gilbert
Gauthe in Lafayette, Louisiana. This led to numerous revelations of
similar cases of abuse around the United States and in other countries
as well. At the outset of the present era the crisis was erroneously
referred to as a “pedophilia problem.”
Experience has shown that only 20% of clergy perpetrators are true pedophiles while the majority are classified as ephebophiles since their victims are younger adolescents. The publicity generated from the abuse cases involving minor victims has also provoked revelations of widespread clergy sexual abuse of vulnerable adults, mostly women. In any event, the age and gender of the victim are irrelevant since the sexual encounter constitutes abusive behavior by a trusted clergyman perpetrated on one with less emotional strength and spiritual power than the priest and one who is in a vulnerable position from which he or she cannot mount an adequate defense.
http://www.crusadeagainstclergyabuse.com/htm/AShortHistory.htm
Experience has shown that only 20% of clergy perpetrators are true pedophiles while the majority are classified as ephebophiles since their victims are younger adolescents. The publicity generated from the abuse cases involving minor victims has also provoked revelations of widespread clergy sexual abuse of vulnerable adults, mostly women. In any event, the age and gender of the victim are irrelevant since the sexual encounter constitutes abusive behavior by a trusted clergyman perpetrated on one with less emotional strength and spiritual power than the priest and one who is in a vulnerable position from which he or she cannot mount an adequate defense.
http://www.crusadeagainstclergyabuse.com/htm/AShortHistory.htm
