30 years ago and before that it was not so widely accepted as now..that therapy is of, at best, limited and most likely no help in “fixing” these men.
Not until fairly recently did we have a focus on this problem, TV shows about it, stricter laws mandating reporting for medical and mental health licensed professionals, and registering sex offenders.
I do not condone putting this person back with children, but lets just be fair. You can’t judge someone by what was ‘accepted” response 30 or more years ago. And it is also unfair to criticize ONLY the roman catholic church and leave out of these articles, or even raise the issue with other religious groups:Jews, Baptists, etc.
Moreover, priests fall within the “average” statistics of “men who are pedophiles.” Its just that it is more sensational when a Priest is guilty.
It is a very convenient, and wrong, way to avoid dealing with pedophilia by focusing on ‘priests” and ignoring the fact it is still a very common problem in general society.
That way, we can avoid the REAL problem in its entirety..lets just bash Catholics...why deal with a kid’s uncle, father, neighbors,teachers or mom’s boyfriend.?
How about dealing with them all, including the enablers. This is not a 30 year old problem. It is current and ongoing. The popes in recent years have not really stepped up and cleaned up their house.