In my view, as an ethicist, it is a more serious wrong objectively for any adult to sexually abuse minors or young vulnerable people in one's charge than to have a consensual sexual relationship with an adult -- even if that relationship results in a baby.When I read the coverage of the Legionaries' crisis, however, I get the impression that some people think opposite is true. It was the fact that Maciel had a consensual affair with a woman, which resulted in the birth of a daughter (at least no abortion!) that seems to have created the sharpest crisis -- not the seeming longstanding pattern of abuse of boys and young men in their charge.Is my impression about the coverage wrong? Is there some kind of an argument, of which I'm not aware, that a sexual relationship with a woman is somehow worse for a priest than alliances with young men in his charge?
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