Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of the cases with priests as the abuser involve teenage boys, not children, so technically it is not pedophilia. Still very, very wrong, obviously, but not pedophilia.

Lots of the posts above hit on the possible reasons children are victims. Unfortunately, this happens in any field where disturbed people have access to teens and children. You just don’t hear as much about the many individuals who have committed these crimes over the years because most don’t belong to an organization with deep pockets like the Catholic Church. Sadly, many people knew about these crimes in many facets of society in decades past, but people just turned away because they didn’t want to deal with it.

Teens are still minors, and it is pedophilia. The only time that desire to have sex with a minor is not pedophilia is when the person desiring sex is also a minor...

I think the pp you're responding to is a troll. When this type of discussion comes up here, someone (pp?) makes the distinction between pedophiles who abuse children and those who abuse adolescents. There's even a term for the age group. I think that poster is a predator of adolescents.

There are different motivations for abuse and that is why I believe the pp pointed out the age gap. In addition, unfortunately the abuse was not just of minors, regardless of age, but also adults including young men in the seminary. The media tends to focus on the children victims and not the other victims. It is all wrong and the church hierarchy deserves much blame for the mishandling.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of the cases with priests as the abuser involve teenage boys, not children, so technically it is not pedophilia. Still very, very wrong, obviously, but not pedophilia.

Lots of the posts above hit on the possible reasons children are victims. Unfortunately, this happens in any field where disturbed people have access to teens and children. You just don’t hear as much about the many individuals who have committed these crimes over the years because most don’t belong to an organization with deep pockets like the Catholic Church. Sadly, many people knew about these crimes in many facets of society in decades past, but people just turned away because they didn’t want to deal with it.

Teens are still minors, and it is pedophilia. The only time that desire to have sex with a minor is not pedophilia is when the person desiring sex is also a minor...

I think the pp you're responding to is a troll. When this type of discussion comes up here, someone (pp?) makes the distinction between pedophiles who abuse children and those who abuse adolescents. There's even a term for the age group. I think that poster is a predator of adolescents.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of the cases with priests as the abuser involve teenage boys, not children, so technically it is not pedophilia. Still very, very wrong, obviously, but not pedophilia.

Lots of the posts above hit on the possible reasons children are victims. Unfortunately, this happens in any field where disturbed people have access to teens and children. You just don’t hear as much about the many individuals who have committed these crimes over the years because most don’t belong to an organization with deep pockets like the Catholic Church. Sadly, many people knew about these crimes in many facets of society in decades past, but people just turned away because they didn’t want to deal with it.

Teens are still minors, and it is pedophilia. The only time that desire to have sex with a minor is not pedophilia is when the person desiring sex is also a minor...

Anonymous wrote:Most of the cases with priests as the abuser involve teenage boys, not children, so technically it is not pedophilia. Still very, very wrong, obviously, but not pedophilia.

Lots of the posts above hit on the possible reasons children are victims. Unfortunately, this happens in any field where disturbed people have access to teens and children. You just don’t hear as much about the many individuals who have committed these crimes over the years because most don’t belong to an organization with deep pockets like the Catholic Church. Sadly, many people knew about these crimes in many facets of society in decades past, but people just turned away because they didn’t want to deal with it.

Anonymous wrote:
Therefore -

We need to abolish priesthood celibacy, so that healthy people can become priests and dilute the number of perverts in the Church - those priests will likely not look the other way if they see signs of abuse, because they will be married and have kids themselves.

There have been periods in history when Christian priests could marry, so it's not an impossible goal.