Reply #17: First let's define the terms [View All]

Pedophilia is defined as a sexual attraction to pre-pubescent individuals.

Hebephilia is defined as sexual attraction to post-pubescent individuals.

According to the John Jay study, the majority of victims of Catholic sexual abuse were by hebephiliacs, therefore the victims were primarily post-pubescent.

By reducing this solely to pedophilia you unintentionally reduce the pool of victims.

It is abhorrent and vile to sexually abuse a child.

It is equally abhorrent to try to actively hide the problem from civil authorities.

I am as Catholic as they come, and I don't for a minute buy the justifications made for hiding the perpetrators under the guise of doing what was recommended by psychiatrists back in the 80's when the scope of the problem became more widely understood.

I believe strongly that anyone involved in perpetrating or hiding the perpetrators should be subject to criminal and civil prosecution. No ifs, and or buts.

Increasingly, reporting to civil authorities is now the norm.

The Church has had numerous priests charged, tried, convicted and jailed.

The Church has also spent billions across the US in civil settlements. Some dioceses had to close churches and schools, and some even went bankrupt.

I'm all for it.

But as a practicing Catholic, I know that priests are also human, and we make allowances for this.

I would no sooner leave the church because a small minority of priests are engaging in this abhorrent behavior than I would attempt to pull my children out of class and home school them.

After all, a child is more likely to be sexually assaulted by a school employee than a priest.

We don't see a clamor in the press (and certainly not here) over ending the scourge of sexual abuse by educators.

And no one would think of leaving the educational system because of this issue.

The issue for me then is, why throw the baby out with the bathwater?