A New York priest apologized Thursday for jaw-dropping comments he made earlier this week about pedophilia. In an interview with the National Catholic Register, Rev. Benedict Groeschel said that in many cases of child sex abuse involving priests, it is the child who is the seducer: “Suppose you have a man having a nervous breakdown, and a youngster comes after him. A lot of the cases, the youngster—14, 16, 18—is the seducer.” Therefore, he said, priests on their first offense should not go to jail. Now, Groeschel says he “deeply regrets” if he hurt anyone with his comments.
