About Abuse by Clergy
EVERY ACT OF CHILD SEX ABUSE IS A SERIOUS CRIME!
The sexual abuse of young children causes immense distress and may profoundly affect their physical, emotional, social, moral and spiritual development.
ALL SEX OFFENDERS, INCLUDING CLERGY OFFENDERS, MUST BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR CRIMES See the (Justice FAQ)
Sexual violence and child abuse is endemic in South Africa. Sexual abuse within families, gang rapes in public spaces, sexual abuse and sexual harassment in schools are recognized as major problems, a national crisis.
Religious authorities are keeping a tight lid on clergy sex abuse in their ranks. But there is no doubt that clergy sex abuse is rife in South Africa. Specialized non-government organizations (NGO’s) and professionals are dealing with clergy sex abuse cases, in all religions and all denominations, in the course of their daily work. And this in spite of the problem of gross under-reporting of sexual offences.
In South Africa there have been several recent media exposes of Catholic clergy abuse and the mishandling of these cases by the Catholic Church. We have also seen a perturbing amount of aggression towards the survivors. Aggressive attitudes from faith communities towards survivors make it even more difficult for other survivors to disclose abuse.
It may be important to note here that there is sexual abuse across all religions – the RC church is not the only church which has problems with the abuse of religious power in order to obtain access to abusing children and/or adults – both men and women.
The problems are complex and multi-layered. We can deal with them effectively only in a climate of transparency, honesty and trust. And by supporting survivors in their disclosure, search for justice and healing.
Dynamics of sexual abuse by clergy
The dynamics of sex abuse by clergy are in many ways similar to those in incestuous families. So are the responses of the community when survivors disclose abuse. (Community Response)
Religions play a nurturing role in people’s lives. Christians talk of being ‘born again’ into the ‘Family of God’. Priests are called ‘Father’; Christians refer to each other as brothers and sisters in Christ’. The church is often referred to as ‘Holy Mother Church”. From childhood we are indoctrinated to show utmost deference and unquestioning obedience to religious leaders. Clergy are seen as spiritually superior, divinely chosen representatives of God. Clergy have privileged access to the secrets of our souls. Society has allowed them to be extremely powerful.
When this power is abused by clergy, the betrayal and suffering have the added dimension of intense spiritual anguish and even the destruction of faith.
SEXUAL ABUSE OF CHILDREN BY CLERGY
Childline (KwaZulu-Natal) has listed in one of its training manual the
types of sexual acts performed on children by offenders. (1) These include
- Acts that don’t involve touching the child - making obscene phone calls to a child; the offender exposing himself/herself; masturbating in front of the child; showing the child pornography; voyeurism – peeping at a child when he or she is undressed.
- Abuse that involves touching - fondling the child’s genitals or rubbing up against a child for sexual pleasure; the perpetrator masturbating the child or forcing the child to masturbate him or her; the abuser performing oral sex on the child or forcing the child to perform oral sex on him or her. Children are raped, either vaginally or anally. Some may even be forced into bestiality – engaging sexually with an animal. Children may be forced to have sex with each other while the perpetrator watches.
The definition of rape has now been extended under the new Sexual Offences Act, and now recognizes male rape, which was previously classified as indecent assault. It also includes sexual penetration with an inanimate object or animal genitalia and includes sexual penetration of the mouth and anus.
There have been horrific accounts of clergy making out to children that what is happening is God’s will. One priest in Boston made a young boy recite the Hail Mary while he was performing oral sex on the child. Another told a small altar boy that sex with a priest was a divinely appointed initiation rite. Yet another compared the child’s receiving a priest’s semen in oral sex to receiving holy communion or likened the sexual touching to the laying on of hands for healing and prayer. These kinds of examples are not uncommon in child sex abuse.
(1) Dhabicharan, L.& Van Niekerk, J. 2003. Training manual. Sexual Offenders. Kwa-Zulu Natal: Childline (KZN).
Impact of child sex abuse
It is a myth that the severity of child sex abuse can be judged by looking at the nature of the sexual contact involved. A non-penetrative act of sexual abuse is not a milder form of abuse than a penetrative act. ‘Just touching’ may also be a preparation by the perpetrator leading to other forms of sexual abuse but also experienced by the child as exploitive and traumatic.
Survivors frequently describe the terror they felt when being sexually assaulted. Even non-penetrative acts of sexual violence can be terrifying for the child. Sexual violence brutalizes and traumatizes the child psychologically and emotionally.
The damage to a child’s ability to function properly psychologically, emotionally, sexually, and socially can last a lifetime. The immediate and long term results are well-documented. Survivors may experience post-traumatic stress disorder, which severely affects their normal, day-to-day functioning; the memories of the abuse can be triggered for the rest of their lives, so that they involuntarily relive the terror and other emotions. Survivors cope with a deep and lasting sense of profound isolation, shame, guilt, worthlessness, anxiety. There is a very real danger of the resulting mental stress and/or depression leading to suicide, even many decades later. Once adult, they experience problems with sexual intimacy and relationships.
It is also recognized that in the comparatively rare cases where children have been able to tell a trusting adult what happened and have been fully supported, the wrong acknowledged and the perpetrator punished, children do not suffer the effects of the abuse to the same degree as those who are not able to disclose the abuse or are not believed or supported when they do.
Sexual grooming
Sexual offenders spend a good deal of time and effort preparing a child for participation in the sexual offence, particularly in cases where there is no overt physical force. Childline KZN’s ’s training manual on rehabilitating sexual offenders describes the tactics used.1 “The offender will typically develop a relationship with the child and often the child’s family. The child is often given gifts. The trust and confidence of the child will be nurtured until the relationship appears to onlookers to be close and caring.
The offender then introduces sexual behaviour gradually and carefully, in such a way that the child doesn’t even realise it. Sometimes offenders will introduce sexual behaviour to the child in a way that appears to be accidental, for example, by brushing against the child so that there is genital contact, or by leaving pornographic material lying around for the child to see. The sexual activity, introduced in a subtle manner, may be sexually arousing for the child. This arousal makes the child feel responsible for what is happening, and reinforces the child’s guilt and silence about what has happened.’
(1) Dhabicharan, L.& Van
Niekerk, J. 2003. Training manual. Sexual Offenders. Kwa-Zulu Natal:
Childline (KZN).
Physical damage
Some children who have been sexually assaulted often end up in trauma units of hospitals being treated for severe physical injuries as a result of their assault. This is particularly the case with very young children, who may end up having to undergo reconstructive surgery to fix the rupture of their lower bowel or anus, or severe lacerations of their genitals and anuses. Girls may end up unable to have children when they grow up. Child sex abuse may lead to pregnancy or infection with STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) such as gonorrhea, syphilis, or HIV, which may eventually lead to the child’s death.
Criminal responsibility
It is a widespread misperception that all child sex abusers are paedophiles, unable to control their addiction. Yes, many do have a sexual orientation towards children. But not all child sex abusers are paedophiles and not all are sexually attracted to or aroused by children. Many are driven by other factors:
- Some offenders rape and abuse children because they enjoy the feeling of power and control that it give them.
- Others do so as an act of revenge against the
child’s parents. Some child sex abuse is opportunistic.
There is a myth, found in many countries of the world, that having sex with a virgin will cure HIV/AIDS or other sexually transmitted diseases, and this has led to children being raped, though the extent to which this happens is a subject of debate. - The sexual assault of children is also often linked to perceptions about the superiority of men over women, hostility to women Sexual assault of children may also be due to impulsive or anti-social tendencies.
In fact, it is uncertain to what extent sexual abusers are motivated by the specifically sexual element of sexual abuse. But whatever the motivation, sex abuse of any kind is primarily an act of violence, even if no physical violence is involved. It involves the domination, control and humiliation of another person in a way that violates the most private, most intimate and most vulnerable area of another person - his or her sexuality.
The responsibility of offenders
No matter what their background, and no matter how seriously they were themselves abused as children, child sex abusers have free will. They can choose or reject such behaviour. They are responsible for their crimes and need to be held accountable.
Even in the case of paedophiles, help is available. Clergy sex offenders, who are usually highly educated and trained to help others, know this better than most. They have no excuse for such unspeakably evil behaviour.
SEXUAL ABUSE OF ADULTS BY CLERGY
Clergy may sexually abuse trusting adults in the following ways.
- By brute force, as in rape
- By coercion- by threats, by emotional blackmail or by some other form of leverage
- By exploiting trust.
People often invest absolute trust in religious leaders, seeing them as God’s representatives, and as spiritually and morally superior. They confide their innermost problems, pain and secrets to clergy. This makes them extremely vulnerable to sexual exploitation. A religious leader may, for example, tap into a woman’s feelings of worthlessness and hunger for love by suggesting she is special to him, then seducing her. Or it may happen that the appearance of caring and kindness of the clergyman causes her to believe she has fallen in love with him. (In psychological terms, ‘ transference love’ or ‘projection’ ). The clergyman encourages this, then seduces her. The real inability of a person to say ‘no’ to the sexual advances of an authority figure. This is a survival mechanism of those coming from a highly abusive childhood environment, when to say ‘no’ to an authority figure, eg a parent leads to violence and may even be life-threatening.
Why survivors don’t disclose:
- When abuse takes the form of seduction, survivors may not disclose because the relationship is not recognised by the survivor as being abusive
- out of confusion, shame, guilt, belief that they were to blame
- loyalty to the abuser
- for fear of not being believed by others
- for fear of being blamed or vilified
- because of being threatened into silence
Sexual abuse of adults by clergy is very hard to prove, especially if it has involved seduction or coercion. It is certainly a serious breach of ethics, but it may not necessarily be seen as a criminal offence. But if such abuse is not disclosed, it festers. It can lead to serious problems for survivors, including breakdowns, substance addiction and suicide. It has profound effects on their families. Such survivors need acknowledgement, affirmation that it was not their fault, and much support. Survivors may find out later that they were by no means the only ones seduced. Such clergymen are a menace to the community. Survivors who have found courage to disclose such insidious abuse have met with further abuse from their faith communities but have also discovered a huge amount of support from wonderful people outside those communities.
The aim of this website is to assure people that there IS support, understanding, compassion and healing to be found. Please refer to our (Support Links) page to locate the nearest support group to you, or if you have the need to speak out, why not drop Krystyna an email? (Contact us)