Does anybody really think that rules, that may have been valid and important in a society two thousand and more years ago, when people were married off at the ages of twelve and thirteen and had a life-expectancy of maybe thirty years on average, can still be applied today?

I had no problems keeping my daughters away from having sex at eleven or twelve years, but at seventeen or eighteen, with all those hormones passing through them ...???

Many of my Catholic friends have turned their backs to the Church - not to christianity itself - because almost the only thing this church was good at was at implanting severe feelings of guilt into people and making them hope for redemption.

We have all read about the recent disclosures all over the world about the hypocrisy of priests in relation to abstinence and celibacy. If I read my history books correctly, this has gone on for hundreds, if not thousands of years. And I still wonder how many Catholic couples still adhere strictly to the Vatican's position on contraception?

As someone who was raised on the fundamentals of Christian principles - and who still tries to live by them - but also as someone who has left behind organized religion, I respect other people's beliefs, as long as they don't try to interfere with the rights and needs of the rest of the world.

Casper, enjoy your love and your and your partner's bodies. Be safe and responsible about it and make sure it is mutual and no one is taking advantage of the other.

You seem old enough to decide for yourself. Your priest is NOT an expert!

And @dr.occa (Premarital sex is a sin as indicted by the Creator of the Universe.)

How dare you step onto your private pulpit and preach that utter nonsense?
How do YOU know what the 'creator of the universe' wants or 'indicts'?

It is exactly this kind of fundamentalist religious attitude and b.....t that turned me away from the church and which makes me even more convinced I did the right thing.

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"Before I speak, I have something important to say."Groucho Marx