(1 of 4) There is an elephant in the Church’s room that no one seems to notice.  The elephant is the Church’s teachings on sexuality.  Unfortunately, the doctrines on human sexuality simply shame nature. They seek to raise asexuality to a level above and beyond our normative sexual nature, subtlety labeling it as bad or at least suspect. Until the church can reconcile its teachings on sexual morality, some individuals will continue to struggle with shame and the resulting poor self- image that can and often does lead to inappropriate sexual behavior.  Perhaps we need to look at these teachings about sexuality as one of the many and complicated issues involved in clerical sexual abuse. Some of these teachings in themselves border on being unethical and immoral. .  For example:  what does church teaching do to a 15-year-old boy, when it insists that masturbation is a mortal sin punishable by God in the fires of hell for all eternity.