Selma’s Queen of Peace Church Rev. Richard Myhalyk responded over the weekend to the Mobile Archdiocese releasing of a list of priests accused of misconduct over the years with three of them in Dallas County.

“While church leaders rightly beg for forgiveness for past mistakes for how they handled pedophilia cases, pedophilia is both a sin and a psychiatric disorder,” he said. “This horrible sin and disorder has deep and lasting effects on victims who never will be completely healed from the experience. Because the person who abused them is often trusted and loved, society is sometimes reluctant to believe a victim.
“Sixty-million Americans have been sexually abused,” he said. “One out of three persons who are abused never disclose it. Forty to 50 percent (nearly half) of the sexual abuse is committed by juveniles – not clergy. Approximately thirty percent of children, who are sexually abused, are abused by once trusted family members.
“The John Jay Study found allegations against 4.3 percent of the diocesan clergy and 2.5 percent of the religious clergy,” Myhalyk said. “The Archdiocese of Mobile reported 2 percent. Some professions have much higher rates of sexual abuse and misconduct. The “Me, too” movement is making us conscious of how prevalent sexual abuse and misconduct have been and, sadly, continue to be.
“Praesidium, who works with Religious Orders like the Edmundites, reports 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 8 boys are sexually abused before their 18th birthday,” Myhalyk said. “Fifteen percent of school children in the United States have been abused. While 57 percent of abuse in schools is perpetrated by men, 43 percent is perpetrated by women. Both homosexuals and heterosexuals, as well as both married and unmarried persons, sexually abuse children.
“Since 2002, when the bishops adopted the ‘Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People,’ all personnel – both clergy and laity – who work with youth are screened, trained and annually retrained,” he said. “The focus of this year’s ongoing training is pornography, unhealthy relationships and inappropriate boundaries, as well as signs of ‘grooming.’
“In order to understand the experience of sexual abuse, one must first understand how abuse happens,” Myhalyk said. Three factors play a role: access, privacy, and control must be in place in order for someone to sexually abuse a child.
“First, the offender must first have an opportunity or access to know a child. Second, the offender must have privacy – time alone with the child in order to abuse. Third, in order to avoid detection, every offender must have some type of control over the child,” Myhalyk said. “There are a few offenders who use physical threats or simple intimidation to achieve control, but it is common for offenders to use more sophisticated forms of “grooming” to control children or young people.”
Myhalyk said the church Charter in 2002 has helped to prevent sexual abuse through more thorough screening and more comprehensive ongoing annual training of personnel. A sexual abuse hotline operates 24/7. To report abuse or to receive confidential support, call (877) 995-5247.