This is at least an area where I’ve seen improvement in many denominations. The Episcopal Church in particular has gotten pretty hard-nosed about its sex abuse training. I was volunteering for a food drive and they made me take a 6-hour course along with any other volunteers who hadn’t been through it because children may be present and they have instituted strict rules.
The training had video confessions of people who had used church activities as a way to become “trusted” sonthey could abuse children. They talked about what they did and how they used their positions of trust to grrom their victims (e.g. “accidentally” touching kids while playing to gauge their reactions).
They then make crystal clear that the rules they have are not optional, or meant as an attack on the adults either. An adult roughousing with kids or talking with a distressed kid alone is most-likely not a rapist. We all understand that, so when someone says “hey - make sure to leave the blinds open with talking to Kelley” or “Steve - we can’t play flag football with the kids” it isn’t an accusation. It’s a reminder that we’re there for the kids and we all follow the rules so that if someone evil does show up they can’t engage in probing through “harmless fun”. If anyone can’t respect those rules they’re not allowed to participate.
The one exception we had for the “no touching” rule when I worked for a Methodist church was for a specific teenager who was usually very sweet but had developmental issues that would occasionally lead to extreme behavior, including occasional violent outbursts. For him we had a few specific adults that had special training (and waivers) that were allowed to restrain him. We also made one of his parents accompany any activity he was involved with. I only had to physically intervene one time when we were bowling and he took a ball into the parking lot to attack cars.
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 5 days ago
I honestly believe that the Catholic Church has been operating an intergenerational homosexual trafficking ring for centuries. Most, perhaps all, of the molesting priests were probably molested by priests themselves when they were very young, and like many abuse victims, grew up to be abusers themselves, using the same vehicle as their abusers - the Catholic Church itself.
That’s why the Church has always excused it and covered it up: it’s literally a long-standing tradition, and a major recruiting strategy. You wouldn’t have nearly as many priests if your only draw was celibacy.