Merle Longwood of Siena College in Loudonville, N.Y., is a professor of religious studies (and a Lutheran at the Franciscan school) who has studied the issue of sexuality and Catholicism. At a panel on the sexual abuse crisis at the American Academy of Religion Conference in 2004, Longwood argued that clergy sex abuse is not […]

Frederick Berlin is an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and director of the Sexual Behavior Consultation Unit. He is director of the National Institute for the Study, Prevention and Treatment of Sexual Trauma in Baltimore. He was a consultant to the National Conference of Catholic […]

Leslie Lothstein is psychology director of the Institute of Living at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut. Lothstein speaks frequently about his many years treating clergy abusers. He can comment on problems in seminary training, the issue of homosexuality in the priesthood, and clergy abuse in the context of other denominations.

The Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States is a national, nonprofit organization that “develops, collects, and disseminates information, promotes comprehensive education about sexuality, and advocates the right of individuals to make responsible sexual choices.” The council has a range of data on sexual abuse and staff people who can interpret data. SIECUS has offices […]

Prevent Child Abuse America is a nonprofit advocacy group that has been working nationally since 1972 to stop abuse and to educate the public. Dan Duffy is president and CEO.

Gary R. Schoener is a psychologist and director of the Consultation and Training Institute at the Walk-In Counseling Center in Minneapolis. Schoener has studied treatment centers for clergy and comments frequently on issues of sexual abuse by clerics.

Mary Gail Frawley-O’Dea is a clinical psychologist who specializes in the treatment of survivors of clergy sexual misconduct. She made national headlines when she was invited to give an address on clergy abuse to the Catholic bishops at their June 2002 meeting in Dallas. She is the author of Perversion of Power: Sexual Abuse in the Catholic […]

David Finkelhor is a sociology professor at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, N.H., and a leading expert on the sexual abuse of children. He is the author of several books on child sexual abuse and directs the Crimes Against Children Research Center.

Read a July 12, 2013, article published on CharismaNews.com about Pope Francis’ decree that officially criminalizes sexual acts with children. Though the law only applies to the Vatican City, it was meant to send a message to the world about the pope’s commitment to ending the crimes that have disgraced the church for more than a […]