Yeah, but you're just splitting hairs here ... as those terms apply at least legally, and that suffices. I think everyone is aware that 18 tends to be the cutoff age for transitioning from child to adult, and that those terms apply from a legal standpoint even if you want to argue that it's not true from a "natural" one. I find that you're spending way too much time definding this guy from semantic "impropriety" when at the end of the day it doesn't matter, and the guy is a threat. Not sure why you're so zealous about defefending him from being labeled a "child abuser" or "pedophile" ... when those terms are applicable according to legal standards and therefore not inappropriate nor in any way slanderous.
I'm "zealously defending" someone whom you believe can be appropriately labeled a "pedophile"? I resent what's being insinuated!
What we know:
Fr. Moran was found guilty of "acts contrary to the sixth commandments with a minor".
Those are Canon law terms. We know nothing about what he was found guilty of by the state, or if he was. No one has provided any evidence of him being tried and convicted by the state.
I am opposed to immediately labeling him a "child abuser" or "pedophile" because that is not necessarily the case. There is insufficient evidence to label him either of those things, because they mean specific things, and we do not have specifics. For instance, IF the "minor" involved was 17 and the "act" was fornication then neither of those terms would be appropriate. In that case they are the dialect of the enemy. Calling a 17 year old a "child" is the dialect of the enemy. It falsely removes culpability from those already past the age of reason. Do you not think it sinister that the majority of people have been led to believe that a, say, 15 year old lacks the mental faculties necessary to "consent" to certain sins? That is a, literally, damnable notion and I pity the youth it has been instilled in.
AGAIN, because this is apparently necessary, I am NOT defending ANYTHING Fr Moran has done. There is enough evidence to label him a threat, to avoid him and to make others aware of him