“...ephebophilia (a sexual attraction to adolescents, often boys) was clearly a serious problem. But to label this a “pedophilia crisis” is ignorant, sloppy, or malicious.”
Malicious, because ephebophilia is so much less disgusting and evil than pedophilia? This report is pathetic and as trustworthy as a critique of the Glenn Beck Show paid for by Media Matters.
Would you feel the same about a 30 year old man who is attracted to 17 year old girls and a 30 year old man who is attracted to 7 year old girls?
No difference in the two as far as you're concerned?
Malicious, because it sweeps the truth under the carpet, and malicious, because it's being propagated, in many cases, by parties which hate the Church but have no problem with homosexual ephebophilia.
The truth is that this is precisely a homosexual problem, caused by letting homosexuals into the priesthood. People who want to normalize homosexual behavior don't want you to know that.
He is distinguishing the two attractions to get at the root of the problem which is, in fact, homosexuality and homosexualism. Actual pedophiles are not much interested in pubescent or post pube folks. Pedophilia proper is not generally homosexual in nature. The insistence that this is a pedophile problem is the denial that there is a dominant homosexual element. If it is homosexual then it is normal and right is the unannounced position of the people making the dominantly pedophile claims. Ephebophilia is no better and arguably worse than pedophilia for its possibly less reversible results. None of it should be tolerated. To those making the attack on the Church the problem is the existence of the Church. They generally demand that homosexuality in all its manifestations be legitimate and legal in the society, just not in an organization for which it is a useful tool to attack it.
Not leas disgusting but the way in which you keep homosexual abuse from happening would be different from how to prevent pederast abuse. It is much harder to screen and keep out the latter. But if the majority of abuse victims were post pubescent boys making sure that homosexuals are barred from seminary will do a great deal to keep such abuse from happening.
Disgusting or not, it was a practice confined to a relatively few men. The cause, of course, was the blindness of the bishops and many other leaders to the danger. The Church had got too bureaucratic, and then suddely after V2 it was a bureacracy in crisis, as som many priests jumped ship or mutined. The top men lost control, the replacements were inferior men. a “hollow” Church, with a hollowness not unlike the Army of the ‘70s.