Reply #31: To your first paragraph, I want to add . . .

[caseymoz]

To use willpower with any reliability they have to feel guilt and disgust over what they are doing. It's not in the nature of pedophiles to feel that about what they do. Or in some state of mind, they don't feel it. Any normal person feels that disgust deeply.

The sacrament of confession was put together without any notion of abnormal psychology. But it isn't the only problem. The Catholic clergy has, in the long history of the church, had a problem with pedophilia. Including a few Popes at least. Catholic clergyman has simply been, historically, the very best job a pedophile can get. The church's notion of sin and forgiveness is warped accordingly. I'm not saying that they are all pedophiles, or most of them are, but enough of them are and have always been. Unfortunately, they are used to having it in their midst, their dogma and doctrine have no notion of harm to the victim. To them, rape and molestation are both "mortal sins" which makes them equivalent sins to having oral sex with one's spouse. Really. That's the way they see it.