Comparing sex abuse data between Catholic and Protestant tricky

A clergyman is accused of molesting a local churchgoer, those who learn of it express disbelief, and matters are eventually resolved in private.

The pattern sounds familiar, given more than two years of revelations about scandal in the Roman Catholic Church. Yet even as a panel of Catholic lay leaders prepares to reveal how many priests have been accused of molestation, experts say Protestant denominations also have their share of problem clergy.

But quantifying the Protestants' problem may be even more difficult than it has been with Catholic priests, though for somewhat different reasons. And comparing the scale of abuse -- Catholics vs. Protestants -- is tricky if not impossible.

There have been several efforts to document the Catholic abuse problem in the past two years, and next Friday the National Review Board, a lay watchdog panel, will release an accounting that it has overseen. CNN reported from a draft text that 4,450 priests were accused since 1950, about 4 percent of those serving in that era.

Few Protestant efforts

There have been few such efforts by Protestants. One is www.reformation.com, a Web listing of 838 allegations of clergy abuse, the oldest from 1933, in media in English-speaking countries (with 100 more waiting to be posted).

The categories: 251 in evangelical or fundamentalist "Bible churches," 147 Baptist, 140 Episcopal and Anglican, 46 Methodist, 38 Lutheran, 19 Presbyterian and 197 others.

Since there are roughly 500,000 U.S. Protestant clergy -- 11 times the Catholic total -- that international total might indicate Catholicism has the bigger problem.

Indeed, some Protestant leaders hold to that position. But Michael G. Smith, the Lutheran corporate lawyer who single-handedly collects the reports for the Web site, suspects Protestants and Catholics differ little in the percentage of abusive clergy or the temptation toward denial. He's convinced media reports only scratch the surface of the Protestant problem.

Scattered cases

Protestant numbers are tougher to get because cases are scattered among hundreds of denominations. Moreover, many Protestant cases aren't reported to headquarters and many local congregations are self-governing, accountable to no outside supervisors.

Besides that, abuse cases get media notice only if lawsuits are filed and James F. Cobble Jr., whose Christian Ministry Resources advises churches on legal and tax issues, says many Protestant cases never reach court.

Among the reasons: Catholic dioceses with group insurance coverage and deep pockets make inviting targets, while the typical Protestant congregation has 150 members or less, limited money and no insurance coverage for misconduct. Also, Protestants predominate in rural and small towns, where victims and lawyers prefer to settle quietly out of court.

All this "lowers the known number of Protestants dramatically" and obscures the extent of the problem, Cobble says.

A Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) survey found 17 clergy sexual misconduct cases in eight states from 1992 through 1997. Only one received media notice.

The 17 cases involved complaints from 31 victims, all female and only one under 18. That fits the anecdotal pattern from observers like Donna Scott, Protestant specialist with www.advocateweb.org, which aids clients of all ages who are sexually exploited by professionals.

By contrast, most reports say Catholics' underage victims were predominantly male.

In recent annual surveys of Cobble's 50,000 subscribers (with around 1,000 usually responding), between .1 percent and 1.25 percent said their churches faced child-molesting allegations that year. But no projections can be made from such nonscientific surveys.

Nor are precise figures available from Church Mutual Insurance, a major carrier of liability insurance for U.S. Protestant congregations. Says general counsel John Cleary: "I don't think the Catholic Church has any greater problem than any other denomination."

Cobble's 2002 survey showed fewer complaints against Protestant clergy than for either unpaid volunteers (who are screened loosely if at all) or for children abusing other children in ministry settings. Church Mutual also sees a disturbing increase in child-on-child abuse.

Unlike Cobble, Jeff Hanna, risk management director at GuideOne Insurance, another major company covering Protestants, says the 100 or so annual molesting claims (from roughly .2 percent of its clients) involve mostly clergy or paid staffers. Experts also disagree on whether larger or independent congregations have more problems.

Whatever the actual numbers, Gary Schoener of the Walk-In Counseling Center in Minneapolis, a consultant on hundreds of clergy misconduct cases, thinks Catholic predators have found it easier than Protestants to prey upon youngsters.

Catholic priests have a more elevated status, he says. "The power differential, the absolute connection between priests and God, is like nothing you see among Protestants."

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On the Net:

Christian Ministry Resources: http://www.churchlawtoday.com

Protestant listing: http://www.reformation.com