There are plenty of behaviors which are immoral, depraved and disgusting, and which should lead any decent person to shun anyone who engages in them, but which nonetheless should not be punishable by the force of the law, because of the risk of giving the government too much power.
All 450 folks in Boston cannot be wrong... and it is in EVERY archdioscese, parish and territory.
If the CHRISTIANS have tolerated this crap in their midst, and turned a deaf, inactive ear to the cries of the sexually abused.. it becomes rather silly to get all twisted over "virtual sex" with the same twistedness.
Go after and destroy the real perverts, ACTIVELY and AGRESSIVELY and the market for this crap will dry up. Until the Church does MORE than offer an edict of "we are appalled" and starts putting the noose around the necks of its own resident pedophiles, any standard of moral "clarity" on this issue will remain clouded.
Same goes with abortion. I am not catholic, but if a person IS a catholic, and obtains, or supports abortion, it's time to stop the sacrements, excommunicate and disfellowship them. If they are public servants, priests, or elected officials in the public arena... they should then be PUBLICLY excoriated for the immorality they practice.
Asking the secular government to institute OUR morality, when our leaders are violating it in churches, schools and counseling offices nationwide... while we whistle in the dark... is ludicrous.
Judgement begins at the house of God first... not the supreme court. This ruling was very predictable, based on the behavior now going on in the church... If the government were to shut down every "freespeech and freedom of religion" organization that was harmful to children, currently, the Church would have its doors padlocked tomorrow.
one cannot reap what he did not sow,
cannot teach what he does not know,
...and cannot lead where he will not go.
The pope has called the cardinals to Rome... we shall see how they deal with the corruption.