Many times I have written about childhood sexual abuse in the Huffington Post. Those blogs don’t get a lot of reader comments and it is not surprising. It is not a subject that people want to read about, think about, much less formulate comments about. And I totally understand that. So I write about other things as well even though most of them have at least an underlying theme related to the impact of sex in our modern culture.

In the past week or so, it has been difficult to read the Huffington Post or any other news source without coming across stories about sexual abuse. Just when you thought the Catholic Church had paid off enough people to quiet things down, the scandal gets even closer to the Pope himself. In 2001, then Cardinal Ratzinger, in a confidential letter to Catholic bishops regarding the handling of sexual abuse cases, referred to a requirement of secrecy in such cases. It has also been reported that a priest with a known history of sexual abuse was reassigned under the Cardinal’s watch.

And now the Boy Scouts join in with an Oregon case against a troop leader who is on trial for molesting a scout. He has admitted to molesting 17 of the 30 boys in his troop. The court is allowing access to documentation of sexual abuse within the organization known as “the perversion files.” In it are numerous examples of molestation cases, some with the familiar story of the accused being returned to service in the organization.

And finally, a 1972 Olympic gold medalist on the US swim team has come forward to speak about sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her coach beginning at age 11 and continuing for four years. Her charge is that there is not adequate screening and background checks for coaches in the US swim program creating an environment that encourages and supports sexual abuse between coaches and athletes, a claim upheld by numerous other cases that have come to light.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/trish-kinney/boy-scouts-swim-team-and_b_510228.html?just_reloaded=1