Word: pedophilia
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...Michael Shanahan is struggling to find the Spanish word for pedophilia. First, he ad libs, referring in Spanish to the "crimes of the priests." Then, seeing the rows of blank faces, he resorts to saying pedophilia with a Spanish accent--which turns out to be right. A white Roman Catholic priest of Irish descent ministering to a mostly Hispanic congregation, Shanahan, along with his flock, is the picture of the Roman Catholic Church's future in the U.S. For a year and a half, he has been the only full-time pastor for the 600 families, most of them Puerto...
Many of us may have just awakened to the stunning extent of priestly pedophilia since January, when the Boston Globe exposed the predations of John Geoghan and the habit the diocese had of systematically concealing them. But the U.S. church has known all about it--how deep sexual misconduct ran, how widespread, how frequent--at least since the first big abuse scandal broke at a Louisiana trial in 1985, when the Rev. Gilbert Gauthe was sentenced to 20 years for molesting dozens of children, who were awarded a combined $18 million in damages...
...police; don't warn the parish. Treat the priest with confession, time out at a discreet rehab center and Christian forgiveness; then let him resume duties at a new parish, the same way they dealt with whisky priests' alcoholism. For years the bishops believed, or made themselves believe, pedophilia could be "cured," until the serial molestations and multiple victims and repeat offenders proved it wasn't so. Only the most recalcitrant recidivists were eventually "laicized"--forced to give up their priestly vocation--long after they had done their worst. And if a victim finally sued, the strategy was to admit...
...about pedophiles--whether they're found in the Roman Catholic Church or outside it--is that they're just plain sick. But sick implies the possibility of treatment, and treatment suggests the possibility of cure; and that raises one of the most vexing questions surrounding the dark condition of pedophilia: Can it be fixed...
...first problem with treating pedophilia is understanding just what it is. While all pedophiles seek sexual gratification with children, not all people who molest kids are true pedophiles. Often a child abuser acts less from genuine libidinousness than from rage, impulse or a simple desire to dominate another person. In such cases the urge can be satisfied by sexual behavior directed at anyone...