It's not just a Catholic thing...

New York State Assemblywoman Margaret Markey amended her bill on the sexual abuse of children to include those who were molested in public school and not just private institutions.
Revelations of abuse that had taken place in Catholic institutions have been prominent in the headlines for years. What has received little notice has been the rates of abuse in other churches and in public institutions, as if child sexual abuse were simply a Catholic problem. The scandal in the church is not that Catholic clergy were guilty of child sexual abuse at a rate greater than that of society as a whole, but that the clergy abused at almost the same rate as is witnessed in society as a whole. One story here.
Assemblywoman Markey’s bill allows for a one year suspension of the statute of limitations, thus permitting anyone to file a claim regardless of when the abuse occurred. If this bill were to pass, the rate of child sexual abuse in public schools which has been a dirty little secret, may finally be made plainly evident.
I in no way wish to minimize the sufferings of those who were abused by Catholic clergy, however I feel it is important for society as a whole to face up to the reality of sexual abuse in society and recognize that this is a societal and not strictly Catholic problem. All the victims have a right to healing.