Two interesting things in The Long Island Catholic today:

George Weigel on Andrew Greeley and Young Fogeys

And an Open Letter from Bishop Murphy on the history of accused priests in the Diocese since its founding in 1957. I find these statistics to be the most interesting:

The percentage of accusations by the decade in which the incidents occurred are:
7% during the 1950s;
26% during the 1960s;
29% during the 1970s;
23% during the 1980s;
14% during the 1990s;
1% during the 2000s.


1.6% of priests serving the Diocese in the 1950s;
4.0% of priests serving in the 1960s;
3.6% of priests serving in the 1970s;
1.7% of priests serving in the 1980s;
1.0% of priests serving in the 1990s;
0.6% of priests serving in the 2000s.

So this means the real major problem occurred in the 60's and 70's. The report does not say it, but the percentage of child molestation claims against priests since Bishop Murphy has been here = 0.00%.