There have been many lawsuits, criminal prosecutions and scandals over sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy in the United States of America.

The issue of child sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests was first publicized in 1985 when a Louisiana priest plead guilty to 11 counts of molestation of boys. It was again brought to national attention in 2002, following an investigation by The Boston Globe which was later dramatized in the 2015 film Spotlight.

The issue became a nationwide scandal when it became clear that many of the allegations were true and that there was a pattern of cover-ups in several large dioceses across the United States. This created a crisis for the Catholic Church in the United States. Though sexual abuse by clergy members is not an issue unique to the United States, these cases were conspicuous due to the perceived leniency shown to offending clergy by church leadership and the Vatican.Alexander, Ryan, and Michael L. Birzer. "Changing Trajectory: An Integrated Theoretical View of the Roman Catholic Priest Sex Abuse Scandal." Deviant Behavior, vol. 37, no. 9, 2016, pp. 977–988.

Many of the accused priests were forced to resign or were laicized. In addition, several bishops who had participated in the cover-up were forced to resign or retire. Many culpable dioceses reached financial settlements with the victims, with payments estimated to have surpassed $4 billion in total as of 2024. The revelations nationwide led to a "zero tolerance" policy by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). However, in December 2019 it was revealed that numerous Bishops across the United States withheld hundreds of names from their accused clergy list.

Settlements The Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas paid $30.9 million in 1998 to twelve victims of abuse by one priest ($ in present-day terms).

In early 2002, The Boston Globe published results of an investigation titled "Spotlight Investigation: Abuse in the Catholic Church" that won a Pulitzer Prize. The investigation led to the criminal prosecutions of five Roman Catholic priests and brought the issue of child rape and sexual assault of Roman Catholic children to national attention.Saunderslawyers.com . Retrieved March 21, 2009.PEP-web.org . Retrieved March 21, 2009.NPR.org . Retrieved March 21, 2009.Multiline.com.au. Retrieved March 212, 2009. The coverage of these cases encouraged others to come forward with allegations of abuse, resulting in more lawsuits and criminal cases.Bruni, A Gospel of Shame (2002), p. 336 In 2003, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston settled a large case for $85 million with 552 alleged victims.

In July 2003, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville paid $25.7 million to "settle child sexual-abuse allegations made in 240 lawsuits naming 34 priests and other church workers."

In 2004, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange settled nearly 90 cases for $100 million.

In April 2007, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon agreed to a $75 million settlement with 177 claimants and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle agreed to a $48 million settlement with more than 160 victims. In July 2007, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles reached a $660 million agreement with more than 500 victims; in December 2006, the archdiocese had a settlement of 45 lawsuits for $60 million. In September 2007, the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego reached a $198.1 million "agreement with 144 childhood sexual abuse victims".

In July 2008, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Denver agreed "to pay $5.5 million to settle 18 claims of childhood sexual abuse."

The Associated Press estimated the total from settlements of sex abuse cases from 1950–2007 to be more than $2 billion. BishopAccountability reports that the figure reached more than $3 billion in 2012.

Addressing "a flood of abuse claims," five dioceses (Tucson, Arizona; Spokane, Washington; Portland, Oregon.; Davenport, Iowa; and San Diego) filed for bankruptcy protection. Eight Catholic dioceses have declared bankruptcy due to sex abuse cases from 2004 to 2011.Besides dioceses, religious orders in the Catholic Church around the world have been tainted with sex abuse allegations. About eight priests of the Maryknoll Society, all now deceased, were part of the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Diocese of Honolulu. Though Maryknoll is a foreign mission order, priests and brothers are assigned, at times, to dioceses around the country. Since Hawaii was a U.S. territory, Maryknoll priests have served in that area. According to the 2015 Maryknoll annual report, the organization charged a significant amount ($19+ million) to address claims in Hawaii. Currently, at its headquarters in New York, several priests are under watch as they have been accused of inappropriate engagement with youth or vulnerable adults either while serving overseas or in the U.S.

Tucson Diocese emerges from Chapter 11 protection

Radio Iowa: Judge throws out Iowa City Regina priest suit SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Metro – S.D. Catholic diocese files for bankruptcy

"Filing Halts Abuse Trial", The Baltimore Sun. 2009-10-20. Retrieved 2010-05-06.

In 2018, bankruptcy court approved an offer from the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis to pay victims of clergy sexual abuse a total of $210 million in settlement, which was the second largest settlement for any United States Catholic Diocese and the largest by any United States Catholic Diocese in bankruptcy.

On February 9, 2020, it was reported that five Catholic dioceses across the state of New Jersey had paid over $11 million to compensate 105 claims of sex abuse committed by Catholic clergy. Of these 105 claims, 98 were compensated through settlements. The payments also do not involve 459 other sex abuse cases in these dioceses which are still not resolved.

On May 5, 2020, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced that it now expected to pay $126 million in reparations. The archdiocese also said its Independent Reconciliation and Reparations Program, which was established in 2018, has received a total of 615 claims, and had settled 208 of them for $43.8 million as of April 22, 2020. That averages out to about $211,000 per claim, which is in line with what other dioceses have been paying under similar programs. The same day, the total amount of money which the Archdiocese of Philadelphia expects to pay in sex abuse settlements was soon revised to $130 million.

The U.S. dioceses have tallied complaints from 17,000 victims to whom they paid about $4 billion since the 1980s. That figure could double given recent lookback laws that give them more time to sue.

In October 2024, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles will pay $880 million to compensate 1,350 victims (who were minors at the time) of sexual abuse by approximately 300 of their clergy members dating back decades. This is the largest settlement involving the Catholic Church, and including the $740 million the LA Archdiocese had previously paid, the combined payout is set to total $1.5 billion.

Scope and nature of the problem Sexual abuse by priests occurs worldwide, although the overwhelming majority (approximately 80%) of reported cases of sexual abuse of minors occurs in the United States. In 2008, the Church asserted that the scandal was a severe problem. At the same time, the Church estimated that it was perpetrated by "no more than 1 percent" (or about 5,000) of the around 400,000 Roman Catholic priests worldwide. In 2002, following the revelations of sexual abuse in Boston, many Catholics and other commentators identified the abuse as being principally homosexual pederasty. There were cases in cities across the United States, including but not limited to Boston, Chicago, Eureka, California, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Orange County, Palm Beach, Philadelphia, Portland, Oregon, and Toledo, Ohio.

John Jay Report

In 2002, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) commissioned the John Jay College of Criminal Justice to conduct a comprehensive study based on surveys completed by the Roman Catholic dioceses in the United States. The product of the study, titled the John Jay Report, indicated that at least 10,000 allegations had been made against 4,392 priests in the United States. This number constitutes approximately 4% of the priests who had served during the period covered by the survey (1950–2002). Of the abused, 81% were male, and 19% were female, 22% were younger than age 11, 51% were between the ages of 11 and 14, and 27% were between the ages of 15 and 17 years when first abused. Within the youngest age group, 64% of abused children were male, while within the older age groups, 85% were male. 2,411 priests had a single allegation made against them, while 149 priests had 10 or more claims made against them.

Among the most controversial findings in the report the number of abuse victims climbing through the 1960s, peaking in the 1970s and sharply declining from 1985 onward.

The John Jay report identified that the number of sexual abuse cases increased in the 1960s, peaked in the 1970s, and declined from 1980s until the conclusion of the study in 2002.Keenan, Marie. Child Sexual Abuse and the Catholic Church: Gender, Power, and Organizational Culture. Oxford University Press, New York, 2012. There does not appear to be a single primary cause of the abuse patterns within the Catholic clergy; however, the report suggests that many of the abusive priests experienced childhood sexual abuse firsthand.

The report also found that the victims of clerics with a single accusation of abuse were more evenly divided between male and female and were more likely to be older. The report also identified some subsets of abusive behavior: pedophilia (96 priests) and ephebophilia (474 priests).

The John Jay study have been heavily criticized. Some critics deemed the studies inaccurate and considered the researchers ignorant.

Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report

In 2018, a grand jury in Pennsylvania issued a report of 884 pages stating that there were over 1,000 identifiable child victims of sexual abuse by over 300 priests in six of the eight Roman Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania, while advising "that there were likely to be thousands more." Only two criminal charges were brought, as either the priests involved had died or the statute of limitations had run out, a situation the grand jury stated made them "sick". The grand jury recommended to the Pennsylvania Legislature that: the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse in Pennsylvania be eliminated the window for filing civil suits be expanded the laws requiring reporting of abuse be strengthened a requirement be put into law mandating that any non-disclosure agreement include the statement that a non-disclosure agreement does not (and legally can not) prohibit victims from talking to law enforcement

The grand jury found that Church officials followed a "playbook for concealing the truth", minimizing the abuse by using words like "inappropriate contact" instead of "rape". State Attorney General Josh Shapiro, whose office initiated the investigation, said in a news conference, "They protected their institution at all costs. As the grand jury found, the church showed a complete disdain for victims."

The Vatican has declined to respond to the grand jury report detailing decades of sexual abuse and cover-ups by priests and bishops in Pennsylvania, refusing even to say whether church officials in Rome have read the damaging documents.Daniel Burke: Critics slam Vatican's 'disturbing' silence on abuse cover-ups Retrieved August 16, 2018

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