In 2005, there was a 19 percent increase in complaints
of misconduct over 2004, and a 43 percent increase in substantiated
cases. Things got worse in 2006: there was a 38 percent increase in
complaints of wrongdoing over 2005, and a 68 percent jump in
substantiated claims. In both 2005 and 2006, approximately a third of
these cases involved the sexual abuse of minors.
Commenting on these data is Catholic League president
Bill Donohue:
“So why isn’t this big news? Because the figures apply
to New York City school employees, that’s why. By the way, these
figures show that the rate of substantiated sexual abuse of minors
committed by New York City public school workers is approximately
three times the rate found among Catholic priests nationwide.
Importantly, two-thirds of the New York City school employees who
molest kids are teachers.
“Again, none of this will be given the prominence it
deserves. There will be no television specials, no new laws passed by
state legislators and no cheap-shot jokes aimed at teachers. Remember,
in 2005 there were five cases of sexual misconduct confirmed among
42,000 priests. That didn’t make much of a stir in the news either,
and for the same reason. In other words, when the figures make the
public school industry look bad, they’re given short shrift by the
media. Ditto when the figures don’t make the Catholic Church look
bad.
“Yes, it makes for a bigger story when a priest molests
a minor, but what does it say about the media when they treat
misconduct by teachers with aplomb? And I use the term priest, as
opposed to clergyman, purposely: in today’s New York Post there
is a story about a Brooklyn yeshiva being slapped with its fourth sex
lawsuit, the latest involving alleged abuse by a ‘highly regarded
rabbi.’ It merited four sentences on p. 26. Which is more coverage
than was yielded by the New York Daily News, New York Times and
Newsday, all of which failed to report the story.
“None of this is a surprise to us—we see stuff like
this everyday. But enough is enough.”
Kiera McCaffrey is director of communications for the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, the nation’s largest Catholic Civil Rights organization which defends individual Catholics and the mother church from defamation and discrimination.
