Cara 2005 Survey of Allegations and Costs Released as Part of “Charter’ Implementation Report
WASHINGTON (March 30, 2006) — Seven hundred eighty-three credible allegations of sexual abuse by clerics against minors were reported in 2005, down from the 1,092 allegations reported in 2004. Nine allegations, or one percent, involved children under the age of 18 in 2005. Nearly 87 percent of the remaining 774 new allegations involve abuse that occurred before the 1990s, with most of the abuse occurring or beginning between 1960 and 1979.
The data were gathered for the one-year period from Jan.1 to Dec. 31, 2005, by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), Georgetown University, here, and reported to the Office of Child and Youth Protection of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
In November 2004, the USCCB commissioned CARA to conduct an annual survey of all the dioceses and eparchies (dioceses of the Eastern Catholic Church) of the United States to collect information on new allegations of sexual abuse of minors, the clergy against whom these allegations were made, and the amount of money dioceses/eparchies have expended as a result of allegations as well as the amount they have paid for child protection efforts.
The data are reported annually as nationwide aggregate statistics in the Report of the Implementation of the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.”
For 2005, a total of 184 of the 195 U.S. dioceses and eparchies completed the survey for a response rate of 94 percent which is greater than last year’s response rate of 93 percent. The responding dioceses represent 95 percent of all Catholics in the U.S. and 94 percent of all diocesan priests.
A total of 148 of the 221 clerical and mixed religious institutes that belong to Conference of Major Superiors of Men (CMSM) responded to the survey for a response rate of 67 percent, slightly lower than last year’s response rate of 71 percent.
The overall response rate was 80 percent.
Reporting these allegations were 777 victims (down from 1,083 in 2004).
Five hundred thirty-two clergy (463 diocesan and 69 religious institute) were accused (down from 756 in 2004). Approximately 82 percent of these clergy were already out of ministry: 418 (374 diocesan clergy and 44 religious institute clergy) are deceased, already removed from ministry, already dismissed from the clerical state, or without a known address and another 20 (18 diocesan clergy and 2 religious institute clergy) were permanently removed from ministry in 2005.
Fifty-seven (44 diocesan clergy and 13 religious institute clergy) were temporarily removed from ministry in 2005. Twelve (all diocesan clergy) were returned to ministry in 2005. Fourteen (13 diocesan clergy and one religious institute cleric) identified in 2005 were still in active ministry pending investigation of an allegation. Fourteen diocesan and 3 religious institute clergy with an allegation prior to 2005 were also described as still active pending investigation.
Of the 532 clergy accused in 2005, over 61 percent had already been identified in prior allegations. Thirty-four percent of the diocesan/eparchial clergy and 65 percent of the religious institute clergy accused in 2005 had no prior allegations. Ten percent of the allegations against diocesan/eparchial clergy and 13 percent against religious institute clergy have been determined to be unsubstantiated.
With regard to costs, for both dioceses/eparchies and religious institutes of men, they amount to the following: for settlements, $399,037,456 (compared to $106,241,809 in 2004); therapy for victims, $8,404,197 (compared to $7,406,336 in 2004); support for offenders, $13,669,138 (compared to $1,869,330 in 2004); attorneys fees, $41,251,640 (compared to $36,251,445 in 2004); other costs, $4,571,041 (compared to $6,033,891in 2004). The total cost is $466,933,472 (compared to $157,802,811 in 2004).
“Other costs” include payments for items such as investigations of allegations, living costs for victims/survivors, and costs for mediation. Also included are payments related to settlements, travel expenses for victims, costs for victims assistance offices and victim hotlines, review boards, canonical trials and case processing, and USCCB compliance audit costs.
The substantially higher amount for “support for offenders” is due to a wording change in 2005 from “payments for therapy for offenders” to “payments for support for offenders (including living expenses, legal expenses, therapy, etc.).”
The amount spent for child protection efforts such as training programs and background checks in 2005 was $20,054,984 (compared with $20,199,409 in 2004).
Almost half (49 percent) of the total allegation-related costs paid by dioceses/eparchies in 2005 was covered by diocesan insurance. Approximately 13 percent of the total allegation-related costs paid by religious institutes in 2005 were covered by insurance.
The CARA data did not include information that identifies an offender or a victim.
The CARA report is Section II of the third Report on the Implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People which can be found at www.usccb.org.