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"But it seems a little disproportionate in the way the MSM goes after the Catholic chrurch. It is not just the church which has a problem, it's our society in general."

I agree with you that the problem of child sexual abuse is a nationwide problem, and in all walks of life.

As for the massive amount of press that the Catholic priests got, I think that was primarily due to so many stories coming out all at once, each triggering other stories.

Many of the stories involved long-past abuses, now come to light. I've never believed that the Catholic church was worse than any other organization, religious or otherwises, where adults come into close contact with youngsters.

It's impossible to know whether sexual abuse is more of a problem than in times past. I do know that churches are trying to deal with the problem proactively for the first time. My own Conference recently held mandatory "Sexual Abuse" all-day workshops. They meant it too. We were told there would be no excuses allowed. There has recently been two pastors relieved of duty in the WV Conference for sexual misconduct.

It's true that social mores change over time. Within my lifetime it was perfectly permissable for a 40 year old man to marry a 13 or 14 year old. By nature, females are ready for procreation at age 12-13-14. Our society has imposed an artificial barrier against such early activity. It's come about because of wealth increase and because of the uncommon freedom we enjoy. We train our girls for other things besides child-bearing. The freedoms that Western Civilization offered to women has changed many things in culture. There are still many cultures in third world countries where girls still marry at puberty. It's natural, but we have created laws that say it's a no-no.

That being said, it's especially onerous for men (or women) to take advantage of position to prey on children. And doubly so when one is a pastor/priest. But we Christians know that satan works overtime within the Church. He's already got those outside the Church.

I think the press also has another reason for this to be on their radar. When the priest stories started breaking, there was extreme denial by Catholics and claims of media bias. As more and more of the stories came to light, the claim of bias and the ability to deny became more difficult to defend. In addition, the Catholic church is the largest demonination in the US as well as the world. It's an easy target vs the little 20 memeber church in the back woods that had a similar issue.

Add to that the way the church is organized and the movement rather than defrocking of so many priests and the story not only got legs, it got wheels. Also rememember, wasn't it in the mid 80's when it was the evangelical daycares that were having the physical and sexual abuse claims brought forward? So it hasn't alwasy been the Catholics.