Reports of Sex Abuse Erode Trust, Confidence in Clergy, Study Finds : Molestation: Survey of Catholics reveals anger and sadness, and a widespread belief that the church is failing to police its own ranks.

Recent reports about ministers’ sexual abuse of youngsters has seriously damaged the reputation of churches and their clergy, a study has found.

It was termed the first study of its kind. The findings “should sound an alarm bell throughout the church,” the report says.

Although such sexual abuse cases have turned up in various denominations, the research focused on Roman Catholics. Questionnaires were completed by 1,810 U.S. Catholics, most of whom are active in church life.

“They are very angry, very sad, and very disappointed,” the report said.

Sponsored by Twenty-Third Publications of Mystic, Conn., a publisher of Catholic books and other materials, the study said there has been extensive “erosion in confidence, trust, support and satisfaction with the priesthood,” and that “Catholics have lost confidence in the church” to deal with such misconduct.

Although some “saw signs the church is beginning to act,” the report concluded: “The phenomenon of clergy-child sexual abuse appears to be damaging seriously the credibility of the Catholic Church to police its own ranks.”

Father Stephen J. Rossetti, a Chestnut Hill, Mass., priest-psychologist who directed the study, says there has been no previous scientific research on how sexual abuse by clerics affects church life. “The surprising thing is that the effect has been so strong and consistent,” he said . He added that the reaction prevails “among the active lay people, those who are leading the parishes.

“If the cream of crop feels that way, you could suppose that ordinary people in the pews have been even more strongly affected.”

Commenting on the study, Father Eugene Hemrick, research secretary for the U.S. Catholic Conference, said people “naturally have been upset” and many have been hurt, but that measures to combat the problem are being strengthened.

“Dioceses definitely are addressing the question more vigorously, and going after such cases directly, rather than trying to cover them up,” he said.

Such aggressive steps were urged in June by the leadership of U.S. bishops.

Rossetti, who specializes in treating victims and those who sexually abuse children, said the impact undoubtedly is similar in other denominations.

Those surveyed were chosen randomly from names on various Catholic mailing lists. Among the 1,810 respondents, 1,013 were lay people, while the others included 391 sisters, 314 priests, 46 deacons and 10 brothers. The survey has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.

Overall, 58% said the church is not dealing adequately with the problem and 62% said they have not been kept adequately informed. Seventy percent want the problem dealt with openly.

Among the lay people, “child sexual abuse by clergy is having a significant and deleterious effect on their attitudes toward the priesthood,” the report said.

In parishes where a priest has been charged, only 44% said priests could be trusted, but it rose to 48% in dioceses where such cases have occurred and 59% in dioceses without such cases.

Indications were found of priests becoming wary of expressing affection for children or being alone with them.

In the analysis, lay respondents were divided for comparative purposes into three groups: those in dioceses where no priest had been charged with child sexual abuse, those in dioceses with reported abuse cases, and those in parishes with confirmed abuse cases.

Although 69% of those in the first group were satisfied with priests, the figure dropped to 50% in the second group and 34% in the third.

Only 50% of lay people in dioceses where no priest had been charged said the church would safeguard children entrusted to its care; the percentage dropped to 38% in dioceses with reported abuse cases and 28% in parishes with confirmed abuse cases.

“After experiencing their own parish priest being charged with child sexual abuse, few trust the church with their children,” the report says.

However, large but declining majorities in each group would still trust the church enough to send a child to a Catholic summer camp.

The study found that the generally low support for the church’s requirement of clerical celibacy dropped further--to less than a third--as a result of sex abuse cases.

The report says that although the church recently has moved toward responding to the “hurt and pain” of sex abuse victims and their families, the data suggests that the healing efforts should be extended to the entire church.

“Indeed, it is not just the victims and their families who have been harmed by these incidents of clergy-child sexual abuse,” the report adds. “The entire community has been wounded.”

An Erosion of Trust A survey of Catholics divided the 1,013 lay people who responded into three groups: (1) Those who live in dioceses where there have been no reported cases of child abuse by priests . (2) Those who live in dioceses where such cases have occurred . (3) Those who are closest to the situation, living in parishes where a priest has been charged. The survey found varying levels of trust among the three groups.

Following is a breakdown of those who said:

Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Priests can be trusted. 59% 48% 44% I am satisfied with priests. 69% 50% 34% The church will safeguard children entrusted to its care 50% 38% 28%

Source: Twenty-Third Publications, Mystic, Conn.