Although the plot of Doubt hinges on an uncorroborated sense that Father Flynn may have molested a child at the parish school where he serves, the Catholic Church has a proven pattern of both abuse and the covering up of that abuse.
The abuse of power and ongoing patterns of unchecked sexual assault of minors by members of the Catholic Church has traumatized individuals and communities worldwide for centuries—accusations of improper contact between a priest and the schoolchild in his care, as well as subsequent cover-up of these accusations, dates to at least 1629. In the United States alone, a 2004 study reports 10,667 complaints of sexual abuse against 4,392 priests and deacons between 1950 and 2002. Before widespread scrutiny, beginning in 2002, many of these accusations were dismissed without investigation. Many priests and bishops accused of sexually assaulting youth were routinely reassigned to a new parish with or without required rehabilitation or retired without being reported to legal authorities.
1950s: US Bishops begin sending priests accused of sexually abusing parishioners to facilities such as those operated by the Servants of the Paraclete.
1967: A public discussion of sexual abuse of minors by priests takes place at a meeting sponsored by the National Association for Pastoral Renewal on the campus of the University of Notre Dame in 1967, to which all U.S. Catholic bishops are invited.
1985: Reverend Thomas Doyle and his lawyer Ray Mouton release the report, “The Problem of Sexual Molestation by Roman Catholic Clergy: Meeting the Problem in a Comprehensive and Responsible Manner.” In the report, Doyle warns bishops of the danger that exists in the church and outlines how sex abuse allegations should be handled. Doyle says church leaders dismissed the report saying there was a policy for dealing with sex abuse.
1988: Barbara Blaine in Chicago starts the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).
1992: U.S. bishops approve guidelines for handling sex abuse cases, but the guidelines are voluntary and not universally applied. They are later viewed as a failure.
2002: In January, a judge orders Boston Cardinal Bernard Law to turn over 10,000 pages of records. The Boston Globe uses this evidence to initiate an extensive series on clerical sexual abuse and archdiocesan cover-ups going back decades. According to the Boston Globe, the Archdiocese of Boston secretly settled child sexual abuse claims against at least 70 priests from 1992 to 2002.
Other victims around the country and the world begin to come forward with their own allegations of abuse, resulting in more lawsuits and criminal cases.
In December, Cardinal Law resigns over the scandal uncovered by the Boston Globe.
2004: The John Jay College of Criminal Justice releases a study sponsored by the U.S. bishops. It reports 10,667 complaints of sexual abuse against 4,392 priests and deacons between 1950 and 2002.
Portland, OR is the first diocese to declare bankruptcy over payments for sexual abuse cases. Since then, other dioceses filing have included: Tucson, AZ; Spokane, WA; Davenport, IA; San Diego, CA; Fairbanks, AK; Wilmington, DE; and Milwaukee, WI, as well as the Jesuits' Oregon Province.
2007: The Los Angeles archdiocese agrees to pay $660 million to settle abuse claims brought by more than 500 people.
2011: The Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus, which covers Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Alaska and Montana, reaches a settlement of $166.1 million for more than 500 cases of clergy sexual abuse.
2014: Pope Francis meets with victims of sexual assault by clergy.
2015: Pope Francis announces he will create a tribunal to punish bishops who cover up instances of sex abuse.
2018: In one of the broadest inquiries into clergy sex abuse in U.S. history, a Pennsylvania grand jury releases a report concluding that 300 Catholic priests sexually abused 1,000 child victims over seven decades. The priests were routinely shuffled from parish to parish in order to avoid scrutiny.
2019: As of January 2019, 6,800 US Catholic priests have been credibly accused of sexual abuse, according to US Conference of Catholic Bishop data, and there are at least 19,000 survivors of sexual abuse by US Catholic priests.
On May 9, Pope Francis issues the first law obligating officials in the Roman Catholic Church worldwide to report cases of clergy sexual abuse—and attempts to cover them up—to their superiors and lays out a 90-day timeframe to complete an initial investigation. The new law does not universally require church officials to report abuse accusations to the police and prosecutors.
—Mari Andrea Travis