"http : //nytimes.com/2005/02/19/national/19catholic.html Catholic Group Receives 1,092 New Sex Abuse Reports By NEELA BANERJEE Published : February 19 , 2005 WASHINGTON , Feb. 18 - Roman Catholic bishops reported on Friday that they had received 1,092 new accusations of sexual abuse by priests as they released the second annual survey of the church 's procedures for handling and preventing such abuse by clergy and employees . Kathleen McChesney , executive director of the Office of Child and Youth Protection of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops , said the overwhelming majority of the accusations , which were made against 756 priests , concerned incidents that took place about 30 years ago . Twenty-two accusations of abuse were made by children in 2004 , and they were all turned over to the police , Dr. McChesney said . The findings were released on Friday by the national conference , which has hired independent auditors to assess the church 's response to the sex abuse scandals that exploded in 2002 . Dr. McChesney said the costs to the church had exceeded $ 800 million since 1950 . Last year alone the costs from settlements , therapy for victims and offenders , and lawyers ' fees came to about $ 139.6 million , according to the report . The 1,092 new accusations of abuse were made by 1,083 people , mostly men . Last year the bishops released an analysis conducted by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York , based on figures from bishops and religious orders , that found 10,667 minors had allegedly been abused from 1950 to 2002 . The actual number of victims will probably remain unknown because many people never come forward , Dr. McChesney said . '' We were n't surprised by the numbers because many people are still finding the courage to come forward , `` Dr. McChesney said , `` and the church is in a better place to accept those allegations. `` . . ."
"These two issues ( abortion and sexual abuse among priests ) are completely unrelated . The problems in one area have no bearing on the credibility the church has in the other . This is a classic case of a non-sequitur ."
"Roman Catholic bishops reported on Friday that they had received 1,092 new accusations of sexual abuse by priests"
"These two issues ( abortion and sexual abuse among priests ) are completely unrelated ."