What were US bishops thinking
when they approved the development of a pastoral statement on
pornography and its dangerous effects on family life, and never
mentioned its dangerous effects on clergy, writes NCR in an editorial.
Thirty-seven percent of male clergy of various faith traditions
report Internet pornography as 'being a current struggle,' and 57
percent of that group report compulsive Internet pornography use,
according to a paper, 'The Internet and Pornography,' delivered during a
2012 symposium on clergy sexual abuse sponsored by the Vatican at the
Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. Representatives of 110 national
bishops' conferences and 30 religious orders attended that symposium.
'The most significant signs of this vulnerability are issues related
to loneliness and isolation, the lack of self-care, higher expectations
of themselves, entitlement, and lack of education about this aspect of
the Internet,' the paper said.
The paper notes that research on clergy and pornography use is too
scant to make wide generalizations, and that no research on Roman
Catholic clergy could be found, but initial impressions from the
research that is available support a need for more study and seem 'to
suggest that clergy in the Roman Catholic Church will need better
training and education on this issue.'
In July 2011, the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young
People, commonly called the Dallas Charter, was updated to include child
pornography in its definition of sexual abuse against a minor, a change
necessitated by a similar change in canon law.
The latest annual audit
of diocesan compliance with the Dallas Charter found in the audit period
(July 2011 to June 2102) that five clerics were removed from ministry
solely because of allegations of possession of child pornography.
That
was about 2 percent of all allegations, but pornography is involved in a
much higher percentage of all cases of sexual abuse of a minor by
clergy.
The audit also found that 16 of the 71 dioceses visited by the audit
team had not updated their codes of conduct to include child pornography
as a prohibited behavior under the updated charter and canon law.
The
audit team recommended that all diocesan review boards update their
policies and procedures to refer explicitly to the possession and/or
distribution of child pornography.