In the last few months the news has been filled with stories about sexual abuse on children by Catholic priests. Even a few priests local here (Phoenix) have been arrested and/or have fled the country to avoid prosecution. One of them fled straight to Rome and when law enforcement attempted to contact the Vatican to talk about sending Father Molester back to the USA, they refused and returned the letters unopened. So much for the Catholic church trying to get thier priests under control.
It amazes me that the Catholic church doesn't see the root cause of this. A long time ago, God imprinted in us some wild and crazy ideas like: marriage and being fruitful and multipying. Find yourself a mate and... well... um... mate! I'm sure God thinks it is pretty cool when we follow through on His suggestions. When we don't, the unpleasantries ensue.
Until we're ready to mate, and even afterward too, God also gave us the ability and desire to masturbate. Unfortunatly, most of the church frowns upon that too. They equate anything have to do with seeing, hearing or speaking of human body and (oh my gosh!) genitals as sexual, which is evil of course.
Today we find Catholic priests with absolutely no way to cope with their denying basic instincts, so they begin to look for ways to satisfy it with little risk of being caught. Enter innocent children. Until very recently, a priest could have his way with a child and nobody would ever be the wiser. Using threats and intimidation, they could keep the child from telling and if by chance someone did find out, they could usually keep the parents quiet too. When that doesn't work, they'll ship the priest off to another parish, preferably where English is not the common language. The word is getting out though, so maybe more will end up behind bars.
None of this is going to actually stop until people rid themselves of all the stigmas placed on them over the years by those who want to control.
A good start would be by getting rid of the pornography industry, not by legislation, but by promoting body acceptance. Just as making drugs illegal feeds the desire for them, the artifical shame and eroticism fostered by the food, clothing and sex industries feeds the worst sexual desires of mankind. This has also created another segment of society that is so sexually xenophobic, that they actually feel mentally traumatized if they accidently see someone else's nude body. This is absolutely crazy and it has to stop. The human body was created by God. It's nice, not sexual.
We should acknowledge that masturbation is not sin, but infact is a gift from our Creator. It feels nice, relieves stress, and supported by recent studies it plays an active part in maintaining good physical health. Don't believe the lies that if you masturbate, you will lose the urge to marry and/or make love with your spouse. Married people masturbate quite frequently too. Little boys and girls aren't going to burn in hell if they do it so quit telling them they will.
We also need to start promoting marriage again. Children are deserving of a stable two parent home and our government's punishment via taxation of marriage needs to come to an end. Mr. President, it is time you tear down that wall.