Children’s Rights and Sexual Abuse: The Position of the Catholic Church - Part I

An issue that is discussed within pedagogy is supporting the family in the education of the human being, including the protection from certain threats of the contemporary world. One of them is sexual abuse of children and youth, especially in a new, covert form. The problem of sexual abuse appeared in Polish literature mainly after 1989, while in foreign literature it has been present for a longer time, where the most attempts to create and implement prophylactic and intervention programs date from the 1990s. The present paper discusses the position of the Catholic Church on the problem of sexual abuse, based on the documents of the Church, and compares it with the liberal position, pointing to the threats resulting from the differing anthropological basic assumptions. The problems considered include an analysis of the differences in the understanding of the notion of sexual abuse/violence, in the assessed scale of the phenomenon, in the evaluation of the moral evil of sexual abuse, as well as in the understanding of the reasons of sexual violence (cultural, i.e. indirect, and direct ones). The position of the Catholic Church regarding the various contemporary forms of sexual violence is a valuable contribution to the pedagogical reflection and practice concerning the development and education of children and youth