"I'm sure you can imagine the outraged shrieks of "Taliban!" that would arise if I mentioned this on a more general FR thread ... so maybe it's understandable that the Church spokesmen don't go back to the foundation and say, "This behavior is sinful: no matter who, no matter when, no matter how old, no matter what sex ... this is wrong."
So let them shriek.
Being something of an expert on incoming shrieks on this website, I can tell you that it isn't that big of a deal. So what does it matter if someone doesn't like an opinion that I post? Or that I happen to be one of those ______ (insert the expletive of your choice) Democrats?
Lord knows I've had more barbs sent my direction than I can remember. But I'm still here. I'm still posting. And you know, I've found that if you're willing to stand and take the slings and arrows, you'll often be able to shift the thinking a bit.
Your post is an excellent one, BTW.
Very good points.
I've been thinking about this more, and I really feel it's a challenge to be less (ulp!) conciliatory. If we let the culture set the terms, as redhead mentioned, we'll never make any progress even among our own believers.
My teenage daughter mentioned recently that she's bored with being lectured on chastity at every Catholic youth event she attends. (And my 12-year-old son is desperately embarassed even to have it brought up!) There's so much to learn and do and experience in our Church ... why can't they get past, "It's not Christian to screw around ... it's not Christian to screw around ..."?
The answer, I think, is that we've stopped even speaking of general moral norms in the culture outside the Church. (I'm reminded of St. Paul's letters to the Corinthians, in which he seemed to be facing the same issue: "No, y'all, it's not Christian to screw around. Stop asking! The answer's not going to change!") Although it may be impracticable or inappropriate to consider legislating some of these moral rules, simply stating that the rules exist ought to be something we can manage!