Sex abuse by nuns: the unknown story

Jason jsipe on October 2, 2007

By Christopher Landau
BBC News
Tuesday, 2 October 2007

The crisis over child sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church has cost the organisation both in terms of levels of public trust and compensation payouts.

When American bishops decided in 2002 to conduct an audit of the scale of the problem, their initiative was given a cautious welcome by survivors of sexual abuse.

But one part of the church was not part of the audit.

Nuns, officially known as “women religious”, do not always fall under the authority of their local bishop.

This meant they stood outside the remit of the study, even though there are documented cases where Catholic nuns have committed child sexual abuse.

‘Resistance’

In Portland, Oregon, there are six new lawsuits against the Catholic Church. Two are in relation to accusations made against nuns.

Kelly Clark is a lawyer who specialises in sexual abuse cases in the state.

(more…)

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