Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church - Term Paper Example

Some religions like Hinduism have positive outlooks on sexual acts while other religions like Christianity have negative connotations upon the concept. Despite of those negative connotations, some abuses still occur within the walls of a rigid system of religion. Catholic Church has been considered to be the roots of other Christian Churches and the one founded by Jesus Christ. Christianity expanded further as various conflicts and issues arose throughout the history of Catholic Church that made some of its proponents to build their own church separately from the system of the Catholic faith.

A prominent figure who had done it was Martin Luther who served as the founder of the Protestant Church. He built it in response to the corruption that he had seen within the governing body of the Catholic Church specifically the priests and other proponents. When it comes to societal issues like sexuality which have been viewed by religious organizations as negative are also affected by the mass media in the proliferation of technology that allow people to broadcast the current events. The issues might also be sensationalized as people working in the media may have used some definitions with various meanings or ambiguity.

The paper would explore a specific corruption seen in the Catholic Church and how it goes against the teachings of the Church regarding sexuality. The role of mass media would also be included in the way the issue of sexual abuse in Catholic Church is tackled. Various studies would also be presented to provide sound evidences in the existence of the abuses and support them with quantitative studies and unbiased perspectives. One particular study had been conducted that tackled the child sexual abuse committed by priests in the 60s and 70s and it was funded by the Catholic bishops in the United States of America.

The study had concluded that the prevalence of sexual abuse is related to the deviant behavior during those decades (Cox). The proliferation of drug use and rebellion of the youth might have been the influence in the sexual abuse cases recorded for the priests of the Catholic faith. With the rise of hippies and other underground movements that tried to surface various social issues. The said study had connected the abuses with those phenomena in the two decades scoped by the research. The research sponsored by the Catholic bishops became a big issue as some had doubted its authenticity and honesty because the group who had funded the study had been the same group with some members who were involved in the sexual abuse cases.

In addition, the study had also revealed that no particular factor can be isolated as the only cause for the rise in the sexual abuses committed by the priests. Despite of that, the study had stressed the big role played by the social factors of the two decades in study that prevailed in the society of USA (Cox). They had pointed out that divorce, premarital sex, drug use and other deviant behaviors were contributing factors to the crimes committed by the priests and they were not ready to be disciplined enough to control themselves.

Another priestly sexual abuse issue surfaced through another source which was the reflection of the actions being done by the higher-ups for priests who had committed the crime. The bishop was even higher than the ordinary bishops as he got the title of Cardinal and had a direct working relationship with the current pope as they made ways to reform the scandals