I may have mis-read either fpb's writing or yours, but I don't think he said anything about the "pervasive sheltering of pedophiles" being the doing of secular culture. I think he said that priests who abuse children are giving into a side of the sexualization of secular culture. In fact, if I'm reading him correctly, he implied that bishops who protect such priests are just as guilty.
I'm curious about your assertion regarding "when it was widely considered acceptable to be married to one (or two, or more) [children]." I'm not sure when that was. Polygamy has never been acceptable in the Christian era, given St. Paul's admonition regarding being "the husband of one wife."
I have a copy of a translation of the Burgundian Code - a legal code which dates to the 5th century. I find it interesting that the penalty for the abduction of and "violence to" (slightly euphemistic there) an underage girl was that the guilty party must pay 12 times her wergild (wergild being the price paid to the family of a murdered person in Germanic society). That culture at least took the rape of minors VERY seriously.
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I'm curious about your assertion regarding "when it was widely considered acceptable to be married to one (or two, or more) [children]." I'm not sure when that was. Polygamy has never been acceptable in the Christian era, given St. Paul's admonition regarding being "the husband of one wife."
I have a copy of a translation of the Burgundian Code - a legal code which dates to the 5th century. I find it interesting that the penalty for the abduction of and "violence to" (slightly euphemistic there) an underage girl was that the guilty party must pay 12 times her wergild (wergild being the price paid to the family of a murdered person in Germanic society). That culture at least took the rape of minors VERY seriously.