Spotlight on abuse: Remembering the former priest who helped uncover sex abuse in the Catholic Church

Researcher and psychotherapist A.W. Richard Sipe was a former Benedictine priest who became a leading expert on sexual abuse among the clergy.

He died on Aug. 8, one week before a U.S. grand jury released a report outlining an alleged coverup of systemic abuse by hundreds of Roman Catholic priests in Pennsylvania. The report concludes that clergy members sexually abused more than 1,000 children over seven decades.

For Boston Globe reporter Michael Rezendes, Sipe was an invaluable source. Rezendes is part the Globe's Spotlight investigative reporting team. That team's 2002 investigation into systemic sexual abuse in the Boston archdiocese was depicted in the Oscar-winning movie Spotlight, in which actor Mark Ruffalo portrayed Rezendes.

In the 1980s, Sipe estimated that six per cent of all priests had sexually abused children and minors. He also estimated that only half of all priests were celibate at any time. Those estimates, though shocking at the time, are now thought to be conservative.

Day 6 guest host Gillian Deacon talked to Rezendes about Sipe's work and how it helped uncover the longstanding problem of sexual abuse by clergy.

Gill Deacon: If Richard Sipe had been alive today, what do you think his reaction would have been to the grand jury's report this week?

Mike Rezendes: I think he would have been horrified and very sympathetic to the victims and survivors. But I also think he would not have been surprised. This is exactly the kind of thing that Richard observed as a psychotherapist and really predicted in the research that he did.

GD: Tell me a bit more about the work that he did and its depth.

MR: Richard's work is still the most definitive study of the clergy and sexuality that's ever been conducted. Richard published his work in 1990 in a book called A Secret World: Sexuality And The Search for Celibacy. He took a lot of his experiences as a therapist and a clinician in institutions where sexually abusive priests were sent by their bishops, and he did nearly 1,500 interviews with priests and people who had been abused by priests.

And as a result of these interviews and various calculations in other research, Richard showed that only about half of all priests are actually celibate at any one time. And many of those who are celibate have had sexual experiences in the past.

He showed that most of the priests having sex were having sex with women. Many were having sex with men and a smaller cohort was having sex with children.

And Richard was able to show that approximately six per cent of all priests were having sex with children or young people and therefore laid the groundwork for our understanding of everything we've seen since.

GD: How significant was that work to your investigation in the Spotlight unit at the Boston Globe?

MR: Well, the work was really very important to me. Richard explained the horrors that we were discovering as we started interviewing victims of clergy sexual abuse. We found it really difficult to believe that there were so many victims and so many priests who had abused children. And Richard assured us that what we were discovering was not surprising, was not unusual, but was in fact in line with his research.

GD: In your obituary for Richard Sipe, you described him as courageous and tenacious. You also called him a near-tragic figure. Tell me why you say that.

MR: I felt for a long while that Richard was a near-tragic figure because he really had devoted his life to this issue of clergy sexual abuse, and he'd been trying to warn people about it for many years before the Globe Spotlight team came along. And for all his trouble he was ignored, denounced or discounted. I think he did not feel he had earned the respect of his peers and I thought that was very sad.​

I think the more critical issue ... is the fact that 16 years after the Globe Spotlight team essentially broke this story, the Vatican has done very little to address the issue of clergy sexual abuse.- Michael Rezendes

GD: Do you believe Richard Sipe's estimate of six per cent of priests having sex with children and minors is still accurate?

MR: I have come to believe that his estimate, in fact, was conservative. For example, here in the Boston Archdiocese, and I don't think there's anything special or unique about the Boston Archdiocese, we know that there were 250 priests who abused minors; that there were more than 1,500 victims; and we know that works out to more than 10 per cent of all priests in the Boston Archdiocese, serving since 1950, who abused children.

In the few dioceses where we also have all the records, the percentage is coming out to somewhere between 7 and 10 per cent. So I think Richard's estimate, which seemed wild at the time and almost unbelievable, in fact was conservative.

GD: If a major corporation was found to have hundreds of employees involved in pedophilia, you'd have to imagine it would be the end of that corporation. Why do you think we continue to talk about abuse in the church?

MR: I think what happens in all institutions is that the people who run the institutions often become more loyal to the institution than the people the institution is supposed to serve. However, I think this situation in the Catholic Church is more pernicious because of the celibacy requirement and the nature of the clergy, which is essentially an all male secret society.

GD: A group of U.S. bishops has urged the Vatican to investigate. I wonder what you think might happen there.

MR: I think the Vatican might investigate, but I think the more critical issue there is the fact that 16 years after the Globe Spotlight team essentially broke this story, the Vatican has done very little to address the issue of clergy sexual abuse. There have been many apologies issued, but nothing done in a systemic way to address the plight of the survivors or to prevent clergy sexual abuse in the future.

Catholic Church covered up priests' child abuse: report

6 years ago

Duration 3:11

The Catholic Church covered up its priests' abuse of children in Pennsylvania for decades, according to a grand jury report. It delves into seven decades of sexual abuse and coverups in six Catholic dioceses in the state.

Interview edited for length and clarity. To hear the full interview with Michael Rezendes, download our podcast or click the 'Listen' button at the top of this page.