Time and again I have read right here on FR, Catholics post, the 'Church' does not have a priest pedophile problem ... just a 'homosexual' problem. Some have even cited the 'Jay doctrine' as if it were factual and evidence of such claims.
You posted this thread, and right off the bat, you plant the notion, your own personal bias as to what has taken place.
I don't know what to say about this. The Boy Scouts have certain things in common with the Catholic Church which makes them interesting to lawyers: Extensive assets which can fund big payouts Extensive records going back many decades, and The "gotcha" factor: "People used to think you were so decent, so "morally straight". Hypocrites!." You wonder ... I wonder ...how much is a search for justice for men who say they were molested 40-50 years ago, and how much is a desire to access $$$ and discredit/destroy traditional institutions.
Given that 'Catholic Charities has collected 'billions' from US taxpayers, in human trafficking, it seems to me, your concern about lawyers and $$$$$ is well misplaced. Does not matter how long ago the abuse was sanctioned. I am not a Catholic but I sure am charged for their so called 'charity work'.
Exactly to whom does a 'pre-pubescence' member of the Catholic Church, report abuse? They have no one... which is what is hidden like the fig leaves in the garden, hidden away and totally whitewashed.
Pedophilia, properly termed as such, is horrendous. Period. The sexual abuse of a prepubescent child by priests, however, is extremely rare, affecting only 0.3% of the entire population of clergy (according to Penn State and Baylor criminal justice expert Philip Jenkins -- who is BTW not a Catholic).
The vast majority of recorded or accused abuse --- upwards of 80% --- is with "youths" (post-puberty), or to conceptualize it another way, with middle-schoolers and high-schoolers.
That's the stuff that's ((legally) reportable because it involves sexual contact with a minor.
Morally, it's as totally unacceptable as the sexual molestation of a young child.
Nobody is minimizing the "youth" or "young adult" problem. On the contrary, we're saying "that's just as bad, and BIGGER."
Add to this, making it MUCH bigger yet, the problem of priests having sexual relations which may be technically legal (over 16 to 18 years old depending on the state). That's, as I said, involves even larger numbers of clergym yet it often entirely escapes the purview of the law, because the the young male involved is not a minor and may have legally consented.
All of this, every bit of it, is a stench in the nostrils of God, who IS the ultimate Judge and who WILL bring a terrible judgment.
Tagline.