Word: pedophilia
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...just looking to avoid scandal by putting up with Shanley, because he already was a scandal. In 1978 he was present at the founding meeting of the North American Man-Boy Love Association. He was quoted in GaysWeek, a short-lived New York publication, as questioning the morality of pedophilia laws, praising the "deep love" possible in a man-boy relationship and bemoaning the pain that moral condemnation of such liaisons can cause youngsters. "We have our convictions upside down, if we are truly concerned with boys," he said. "The 'cure' does far more damage." This was not Shanley...
...Holy Spirit, can the church live with such uncertainty?" Messori cited an unidentified Cardinal as saying. Beyond the Pope's liturgical duties, there are also questions about his control of the daily business of the Vatican, including criticisms that he has been too weak to respond sufficiently to the pedophilia scandals. Messori says he believes the Pope has no plans to step aside but adds, "There are many in the Vatican who wonder if he can carry his work forward...
Hard-core pedophilia is a different and more intractable problem, and, according to Tim Smith, a Seattle treatment specialist who works with sex offenders, it may affect fewer than 10% of the child abusers in the U.S. The true pedophile is drawn to children not merely incidentally but exclusively. Most pedophiles target kids in the threshold years before puberty, but some look further down the age spectrum, seeking out even toddlers. Pedophiles who prefer preadolescents often court them with the ardor of a suitor, lavishing attention, praise and gifts on the child they have chosen. Typically they tell themselves that...
What still puzzles behavior experts is why pedophilia exists at all. Although it's true that many child molesters were molested as children, the numbers are pretty muddy. Therapists who work with abusers report that anywhere from a third to three-quarters of their patients claim to have been victims of molestation--imprecise figures made even more so by the molesters' incentive to shade the truth. "Certain stimuli early in life seem to fuse the ideas of childhood and sexual arousal," says Fran Ferder, a psychologist and Catholic nun who teaches theology and psychology at Seattle University. The early onset...
Well before the scandals over Catholic priests accused of pedophilia, Americans were beginning to cast a skeptical eye on mainstream religion. In a 1993 cover story, TIME noted that people were turning away from the traditional CHURCH in search of more personalized spiritual havens...