WASHINGTON — The bishops of the United States received an official reprimand from a board of prominent lay Catholics for allowing and in some cases abetting an epidemic of sexual abuse of minors by priests and deacons during the past two generations.

It also targeted homosexuals in the seminaries as key contributors to the problem.

A landmark study found that since 1950 a total of 10,667 young people — more than 80% of them boys and most of them ages 11 to 14 — reported sexual abuse by more than 4,392 clergymen — or 4% of all priests in active ministry. The figure includes a small number of deacons.

The study was conducted by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, and its results were released Feb. 27 by the National Review Board, a panel established by the bishops in the midst of the 2002 sexual-abuse uproar.

The John Jay study sought to be as comprehensive as possible, including even the estimated cost to the Church for victim assistance, treatment of offenders and legal settlements related to the crisis — $572 million. But that figure does not include at least one high-profile settlement of $85 million in Boston and unresolved amounts from at least 13 other dioceses.

“Much blame, unfortunately, at least as to the Church, must be placed on the higher-ups,” said review board member and Washington attorney Robert Bennett, who chaired the committee that wrote a second report evaluating the causes of the crisis. “Many bishops, certainly not all, breached their responsibilities as pastors … and put their heads in the sand.”

Bennett addressed a roomful of reporters the day the board released the two reports, which are available in their entirety on the Web site of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (www.nccbuscc.org).

In response, the bishops' conference president, Bishop Wilton Gregory of Belleville, Ill., told Catholic Americans that the crisis is past, young people are safe and no known offender is in active ministry. Since the bishops approved a “zero tolerance” policy two years ago for any clergyman with a single accusation of having molested a minor, 700 U.S. priests have been removed from ministry.

“On behalf of the bishops and the entire Church in the United States, I restate and reaffirm our apologies to those who have been harmed by those among us who violated your trust and the promises they made at their ordination,” Bishop Gregory said at a press conference. “The heartfelt sorrow we feel at this violation and the often ineffective ways in which it was dealt has strengthened our commitment to do everything possible to see that it does not happen again.”

Hot-Button Issues

Among the recommendations of the National Review Board was a renewed focus on the selection, screening and formation of candidates for the priesthood, with special attention to two hot-button issues — homosexual orientation and celibacy.

“While the board believes that whether a candidate for the priest-hood is capable of living a chaste, celibate life is the paramount question for determining selection to the priesthood — and that his sexual orientation is not a requirement one way or the other — given the reality that a seminarian is entering what is essentially a male culture, it is important that care be taken in the selection and formation of seminarians so that every priest can honor his commitment to living a chaste and a celibate life,” Bennett said. “While I think a litmus test would be inappropriate, we must look at the reality of what we are dealing with.”

As for the discipline of celibacy, the board is also leaving that question for further study, Bennett said.

“Celibacy is a great gift to many priests. It makes them better priests. As one said, it's a great gift of God,” he said. “But for those who are unable to live it, it is an albatross that leads to other problems, problems of loneliness, problems of alcoholism and problems of crossing the boundaries.”

In addition to analyzing the fact of child predators in the priesthood, the review board looked at why bishops allowed abusers to remain in ministry and harm other children. The report noted such problems as denial — an unwillingness to believe a priest could commit such crimes — and governance procedures that kept bishops from knowing and sharing information with each other that would have allowed them to see a pattern.

Some bishops put the institutional concerns above universal concerns, some did not give the issue high priority, some relied too much on mental-health advisers and some, Bennett said, responded to victims not like pastors but more “like risk-assessment managers of an insurance company.”

From now on, the review board advised, bishops should exercise more “fraternal correction” to ensure their brother bishops follow their national charter to protect children. There is, however, no procedure in place for fraternal correction among bishops. No bishop has been publicly admonished by other bishops during the crisis.

That charter was adopted in 2002. In addition, he suggested, they might be liable under civil authority.

“I have no doubt that if the evidence were presented that if a particular bishop or cardinal or whoever knowingly allowed a predator to do their mischief, that person should not only have action taken against them, but it should be far more serious than that,” Bennett said. “But those facts would have to exist. This board, we didn't conduct a grand-jury investigation.”

Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan, chairman of the bishops' conference committee on priestly ministry, said seminaries are already doing better screening and formation but that they will benefit from “apostolic visitations.” Such on-site inspections by Vatican officials were ordered by Pope John Paul II in 2002 but have yet to take place.

Archbishop Dolan described today's seminarians as a new breed.

“When you see the wholesomeness, and when you see the dedication, when you see the resolve, the fervor and the maturity of those young men,” he said, “it would give you a good reason for hope that these men know what they're getting into and the future of the Church is bright as far as priestly service is concerned.”

Ellen Rossini writes from Richardson, Texas.

The Numbers

The statistical study and evaluation of the causes of the sexual-abuse crisis contain both expected information and sobering surprises.

Because of the high response rate of 98% of dioceses and because of the anonymity of the survey — no victims, offenders or dioceses were named — the information reported can be assumed reliable, said John Jay professor Karen Terry, head researcher for the study.

Sexual abuse by clergy occurred across all regions and sizes of Catholic populations, Terry said. Most of the alleged offenders were diocesan priests, and most of the abuse — which ranged from touching outside clothing to common and much more serious offenses — occurred in the priest's home. Many offenders socialized with the family of the victim. Most of the victims lived with both parents. The average age of the victimized child was 12.6.

The majority of the priests had one allegation of abuse, but the victims of the 3.5% of the predators who were guilty of molesting 10 or more young people represented 26% of all victims. Of priests who were accused, 615 were investigated by the police, 217 were charged, 138 were convicted and 100 served time in prison, Terry said.

Seventy-five percent of the alleged incidents of abuse occurred between 1960 and 1984, with the greatest number of reported incidents occurring in 1980. Terry said, however, that because of a common time lag between incidence and reporting, some offenses occurring in the 1990s might not have yet been reported.

Another factor in reporting is the victims' perception of safety in doing so, according to the review board report on causes. One-third of all the cases were reported in 2002, the year the epidemic received widespread media coverage.

Nearly 10% of priests ordained in 1970 were alleged to have offended against a minor. That rate declined to fewer than 8% among those ordained in 1980 and fewer than 4% of priests ordained in 1990. More than 80% of all victims were boys.

- Ellen Rossini