I would add a third point to the column. The associaion of pedophilia with gay men is incorrect. A majority of pedophiles are heterosexual, like the father of four in my neighborhood who is also a practicing Roman Catholic. The implication that pedophiles are gay reinforces homophobic prejudice while it mischaracterizes pedophilia. Why one wonders do so many straight RC men concerned about this problem seem to be ignorant about such a basic aspect of it? And why are so many Christians obsessed about sexual orientation when Jesus himself never addressed this aspect of human nature? It appears to me that they have been made stupid by their own prejudice.

Markrampion, I don’t know if most pedophiles are homosexual or heterosexual, but given that heterosexual men make up 97% of the male population, one could say that if homosexuals account for more than 3% of pedophiles than they are overrepresented among pedophiles. Given that some 80% of the sexual abuse within the Catholic Church was male to male how can anybody ignore the issue of homosexuality?

Where's the sources for your statement to back up your claim?

Akingu, could you check out the Able and Harlow Child Molestation Prevention Study, readily available on the web? More than 70% of molesters consider themselves heterosexual in their adult sexual orientation. Only 8% of molesters are men who identify themselves as gay (I have seen many estimates of the % of gay men in the population as 5-10%.) In general the demographics of the molester parallel the demographics of men in our society. They are unsurprisingly more likely to be found in roles that provide access to children, they are also very clever about picking their victims and "seducing" them. My own experience as a molestation victim was as a sexually naive boy scout. My main point is not to diminish the trauma of molestation or discourage the attempt to protect children from pedophiles. But the unfortunate assumption that those who molest boys are exclusively or even primarily gay is uninformed and does put a cloud over gay and bisexual men who already have enough prejudice to bear in our society.