CMR's annual surveys of about 1,000 churches nationwidehave asked about sexual abuse since 1993. They're a remarkable windowon a problem that lurked largely in the shadows of public awarenessuntil the Catholic scandals arose.

The surveys suggest that over the past decade, the paceof child-abuse allegations against American churches has averaged 70 aweek. The surveys registered a slight downward trend in reported abusestarting in 1997, possibly a result of the introduction of preventivemeasures by churches.

"I think the CMR numbers are striking, yet quitereasonable," says Anson Shupe, anIndiana University professor who'swritten books about church abuse. "To me it says Protestants are lessreluctant to come forward because they don't put their clergy on ashigh a pedestal as Catholics do with their priests."

At least 70 incidents a week

Dr. Shupe suggests the 70 allegations-per-week figureactually could be higher, because underreporting is common. Hediscovered this in 1998 while going door to door in Dallas-Ft. Worthcommunities where he asked 1,607 families if they'd experienced abusefrom those within their church. Nearly 4 percent said they had beenvictims of sexual abuse by clergy. Child sexual abuse was part of that,but not broken out, he says.

James Cobble, executive director of CMR, who overseesthe survey, says the data show that child sex-abuse happens broadlyacross all denominations– and that clergy aren't the major offenders.

"The Catholics have gotten all the attention from themedia, but this problem is even greater with the Protestant churchessimply because of their far larger numbers," he says.

Of the 350,000 churches in the US, 19,500 – 5 percent –are Roman Catholic. Catholic churches represent a slightly smallerminority of churches in the CMR surveys which aren't scientificallyrandom, but "representative" demographic samples of churches, Dr.Cobble explains.

Since 1993, on average about 1 percent of the surveyedchurches reported abuse allegations annually. That means on average,about 3,500 allegations annually, or nearly 70 per among thepredominantly Protestant group, Cobble says.

The CMR findings also reveal:

• Most church child-sexual-abuse cases involve a single victim.

• Law suits or out-of-court settlements were a result in 21 percent of the allegations reported in the 2000 survey.

• Volunteers are more likely than clergy or paid staffto be abusers. Perhaps more startling, children at churches are accusedof sexual abuse as often as are clergy and staff. In 1999, for example,42 percent of alleged child abusers were volunteers – about 25 percentwere paid staff members (including clergy) and 25 percent were otherchildren.

Still, it is the reduction of reported allegations overnine years that seems to indicate that some churches are learning howto slow abuse allegations with tough new prevention measures, sayinsurance company officials and church officials themselves.

The peak year for allegations was 1994, with 3 percentof churches reporting an allegation of sexual misconduct compared withjust 0.1 percent in 2000. But 2001 data, indicates a swing back to the1 percent level, still significantly less than the 1993 figures, Cobblesays.

Child sexual-abuse insurance claims have slowed, too, industry sources say.

Hugh White, vice president of marketing for BrotherhoodMutual Insurance, in Ft. Wayne, Ind., suggests that the amount of abusereported in the CMR 2001 data is reasonable though "at the higher end"of the scale.

Mr. White's company insures 30,000 churches – about 0.2percent to 0.3 percent of which annually report an "incident" of childsexual abuse. But he says that his churches are more highly educated onchild abuse prevention procedures than most, which may account for alower rate of reported abuse than the CMR surveys.

What all the data show is a settling that followed "alarge spike" in the frequency and severity of church sexual misconductclaims from the mid-1980s, White says.

"Church insurance carriers implemented educationalprograms and policies that have helped decrease and then stabilize thetrend," agrees Jan Beckstrom, chief operating officer for the churchinsurer GuideOne Insurance in West Des Moines, Iowa.

CMR surveys also show many smaller churches have laggedin starting such programs, while larger churches with more resourcesand management controls have led the way. And for good reason: Theyhave more to lose, and a larger abuse problem.

"I don't know of a church that isn't doing this," saysSimeon May, of the Richardson, Tex.-based National Association ofChurch Business Administration, which gives training for large churcheswith administrators.

At Grace Community Church in Tempe, Ariz., theexecutive pastor, Gary Maitha, says his church has adopted a toughersort of love since 2000. That's when criminal background checks, fingerprinting, detailed questionnaires, and careful policies – such as neverhaving children and adults "one-on-one" – kicked into gear. It's anecessity with 700 to 800 children showing up for Sunday School andmany more for other church activities during the week, he says.

"We have fingerprinting and a criminal background checkfor anyone over age 18 that works with children," says the Rev. Maitha."If it comes back with a blemish, they're not working with kids. That'sall there is to it."

Debby DeBernardi, director of Grace Community'schildren's ministry, says church policies require, for instance, thatadults go in pairs when supervising bathroom breaks for children andthat they check to ensure no adults are in the bathrooms, beforechildren enter.

Fingerprints for Sunday school

Men who've been screened and fingerprinted may work inthe nursery. But only female staff members – not volunteers – maychange diapers. Only adults wearing an identity badge that indicatesthey've been cleared may work with children – and photo IDs are comingsoon. Some long-time volunteers, offended by all the new policies, havebowed out of children's activities.

But the new procedures have already proven their worth,Ms. DeBernardi says. "We did have someone already apply who had apolice file and had been accused of child molestation. Because of ournew procedures, we caught it.... Sometimes you have to bring people inand say, 'Look, you're welcome to come to the church, we love you. Butyou may not minister in the children's area.' "

That sort of toughness is swiftly becoming aprerequisite for insurance coverage, and to protect against lawsuitsand false allegations, which can be nearly as demoralizing to a churchorganization.

The problem, Cobble says, is that churches are theperfect environment for sexual predators, because they have largenumbers of children's' programs, a shortage of workers to lead them,and a culture of trust that is the essence of the organization.

Churches have been active since the early 1990s inaddressing the problem, Cobble reports. More than 100,000 copies of abook he co-authored, "Reducing the risk of Child Sexual Abuse in YourChurch" were sold.

Since January, when Roman Catholic dioceses nationwidebegan drawing headlines over pedophile priests, some churchorganizations have focused anew on revamping sexual abuse policies.

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, for instance, is reportedly drafting a new sexual- abuse policy.

Ralph Colas, of the American Council of ChristianChurches, a Bethlehem, Penn. organization representing fundamentalistdenominations, reports fresh activity. "I've helped several churchesthis last week draw up some guideline policies," he says. "I'veencouraged churches to secure legal advice, to make sure they aremeeting the legal mandatory reporting requirements."

Fear of lawsuits sparked new rules

But the shift to "trust but verify" – impelled to adegree by current headlines – has been ongoing since a conference inChicago in November 1992 when more than 100 denominational leaders metfor the first time to discuss how to deal with child sex abuse. Aboutthat time, insurance companies were dropping coverage of churcheswithout screening policies.

"What drove leaders to begin to respond to this issuewas not the welfare of children," Cobble says. "It was fear of large,costly lawsuits."