Jason Berry, a Louisiana journalist, broke the first stories of sexual abuse by priests in 1985. He wrote Lead Us Not Into Temptation: Catholic Priests and the Sexual Abuse of Children and, with Gerald Renner, Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II.

Charlotte Rolnick Schwab is a psychotherapist and author who has lectured on the issue of sexual abuse and clergy, especially in Judaism. She draws parallels between what is happening in the Catholic Church and what goes on in other denominations and faiths. Schwab is the author of Sex, Lies and Rabbis: Breaking a Sacred Trust (1stBooks Library, 2002). […]

Ronald E. Long teaches in the religion program at Hunter College in New York. He is the author of Men, Homosexuality and the Gods: An Exploration Into the Religious Significance of Male Homosexuality in World Perspective (Harrington Park Press, 2004).

Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry in Mount Rainier, Md., which serves gay and lesbian Catholics, has been critical of the Vatican’s resistance to homosexuality.

Thomas Groome is a professor of theology and religious education at Boston College, where he chairs the department of religious education and pastoral ministry. His primary area of interest is the history, theory and practice of religious education. He wrote Educating for Life: A Spiritual Vision for Every Teacher and Parent and is the primary author of various […]

For statistics, see the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown, the nonprofit research organization that conducts social scientific studies for the Catholic Church.

A 2009 CBS poll discovered two-thirds of Americans didn’t like how the Catholic Church was handling the sexual abuse scandal.

A 2005 Gallup poll found that while Americans were supportive of equal job rights for homosexuals, they didn’t think people who are gay should be clergy members.

The Los Angeles Times did extensive surveys of U.S. priests in 1994 and in 2002. Read the story with links to other aspects of the poll.