I agree with your post ^.
Back to blaming the victim? Where in the original post does it say that the child was ‘seeking sex’? That is just another old, tired ploy by morally bankrupt offenders. They might have the excuse that they can’t help themselves - what excuse would we HAVE if we validate their ploys?
That’s what Craiglist ads like this pretty much involve. I wish I didn’t know that, but I do.
Seriously? And these are the posters who want to play psychologist? A psychologist’s first question would be: “how long has this child been abused sexually”? NOT “did this evil child tempt that nice old man?”
I personally would not call Fr. Paulisch a pedophile because I have not proof that he has ever been interested in pre-pubescent children. If the situation as described in the news report is true… ie. they found each other on Craigslist, he propositions the 15-year-old and they allegedly engage in sexual activity after apparently asking him several times if he was 18… this is where the shades of grey come in. If it was true that the boy reassured him that he was 18 and that he truly believed that this boy was 18, does that still make him an ephebophile? Is it then the common description of abuse if he was under the impression that they were both of the age of consent? I’m in the arts world and know several gay men of a certain generation who would tell older men they were 18, when they were actually younger, because they were curious about their own sexuality and at that time it was the only way to engage in that kind of sexual activity. They do not think of themselves as abuse victims. Some aren’t proud of their sexual exploits as teens with these grown men, but some are pretty unabashed talking about it. Also has anyone seen the ad on Craigslist? That said, to me if you have to ask a young man several times if he was of age, you might want to just drop the whole thing and not take a chance that you would be doing something illegal.
Here:
No one is calling him a “nice older man”. He’s a sinner, and this is an awfully extreme case of sin. But the abused 15-year-old child is a sinner too – though his sin is not nearly as severe.
I wish you also knew that the appropriate response of an adult would be to seek psychological help for this child. The most appropriate psych assumption would be that he was abused BEFORE ending up on Craiglist, if indeed he advertised there. It is still the adult’s responsibility to DO THE RIGHT THING.That’s what Craiglist ads like this pretty much involve. I wish I didn’t know that, but I do.
I have no objective evidence, unless you have some to offer, of this child’s supposed sin. If he were indeed abused in the past, that might take his culpability level to just about the temperature of the North Pole right about now. Not so for his adult abuser who has had more than ample access to medicine for his wounds.
If he could tell his puberty level (everyone seems to be assuming that) then he could tell his age. NO EXCUSES. There are enough willing adults out there.
And we know it was not the priest who advertised on Craigslist? We have a copy of the ad of course…?
That’s my point. He kept asking him if he was 18. To me, asking several times his age to be sure that he was 18 shows that he wasn’t quite sure he was a consenting adult. If he didn’t let another part of his body lead in the thinking, this should have been a red flag for him to stop and not take a chance of doing something illegal. Besides that, he is a priest and shouldn’t be engaging in sexual behavior even with a person who is of the age of consent.
Have to add, there are adults who are fully matured, but their faces still look very young. My mother looked like a 15 year old even though she was 25. My dad was younger than her and didn’t believe her at first when she told him her age. Now, she was a nurse at the time, so he didn’t think she was any younger than 18. Not making excuses for the priest, but this could have been the situation, if what was reported is true. That’s the important part… IF… We really don’t know, yet, what the entire story is. Still, I think he should have just stopped if he questioned that much his age. He’s still at fault no matter which way you slice it.
See my previous post. The kid either put an ad or answered one, if the story about Craigslist is true. The police will be able to verify that easy enough, but whether the public gets told is another story.
That’s what I would think, but now in California you would be breaking the law if the kid identifies himself as a homosexual. It’s against the law to offer reparative therapy for a minor.
The main goal, especially with the abusive priests, is to try and make sure the homosexual element of the abuse is covered up.
See my posts above. This is not about what the kid may have done or not done. This is about the kid’s age. This discussion feels like a defense of the mother who put her child in a coma for being disobedient. It doesn’t matter - if in fact it is true, since this is all the priest’s word - if the child placed or answered an ad. Just the same as it doesn’t matter if the kid put on the ventilator by his mom’s beating, really broke his curfew or not. You cannot compare an adult’s responsibility to a child’s supposed culpability. And some of us in the Church have practically grown up with that ‘tradition’.
So what? Is reparative therapy the only psych help known to man? Scratch that: reparative therapy does not qualify as ‘help’ because it doesn’t work. And so what if he couldn’t offer him help - the alternative is to violate him?
And if the abuse is heterosexual that makes them more acceptable to society? Not in any society I’ve lived in. A ‘dirty old man’ is a ‘dirty old man’, regardless.
The sad thing is that I wish more people in society would look at heterosexual abuse as just as evil and unacceptable. Too often, victims of heterosexual child abuse are overlooked, especially if the age of the child is older.
Obviously not. but if you want to solve a problem you have to identify it first. if the Church had decided that the solution to the sex abuse scandal was to carefully screen out anyone with pedophilic tendencies it would have eliminated only about 10% of the abuse. The main problem was nor pedophilia-it was homosexual rape. That is why the Church has now instituted a policy of not allowing those with homosexual tendencies or immersed in the homosexual culture to enter the seminary
Absolutely. we just saw a case where a 54 year old had rapped a 14 year old female student(she later committed suicide) yet he was given only a 30 day sentence