If one is to believe the studies cited over at Wikipedia, 15 to 25 % of women and 5 to 15% of men are sexually abused in some degree/capacity as children.
So while a part of me, as a Catholic, feels it is unfair to single out the church, which clearly does not represent 25% of the human demographic, if focusing on the Catholic situation brings more attention, concern, and desire for change to eliminate all sexual abuse from the world's population, I'm OK with that. It's a cross that the Church can bear on behalf of all people and show the way. Hopefully they rise to the challenge and the calling to do this. It has to occur at all levels - the Church is made up of the faithful, and to lay all blame at the feet of the officers of the Church is shortsighted. The sick individuals in the clergy are drawn from the community of faithful, we didn't import them from somewhere else. This is not to diminish the need for sweeping changes in Church policy and leadership that shelter and hide abuse, but to make sure we recognize that every Roman Catholic has a responsibility to, in some part, effect positive change in this regard.
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-Scott
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