Talking about the Catholic Church's sex-abuse scandal, Senator Rick Santorum said:

In this case, what we're talking about, basically, is priests who were having sexual relations with post-pubescent men.

"Men"?

In the portion of The Boston Globe's Web site devoted to its Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the scandals, one page singles out four priests the Globe calls "predators" -- four priests whose abuses are especially striking. What did these priests do?

John Geoghan:

Geoghan, 66, was found guilty in the first of three criminal cases brought against him. He could be sentenced for up to 10 years for touching a 10-year-old Waltham boy inside his bathing suit in a swimming pool a decade ago, though he probably will not receive the maximum sentence because he has no prior conviction.

In late February, Geoghan will go on trial on charges that he raped a 7-year-old boy in the basement of the defrocked priest's home in West Roxbury.

--Globe, 1/20/02

Joseph Birmingham:

The boys were only 10, 11, or 12, but already they knew the routine: "Father B." would get them into his car, take them for ice cream, to the beach, or to a ballgame. But the outings would inevitably evolve into something more. The last one to be dropped off -- "the last one out," the boys called it -- would be the unlucky one.

"At first, the car trips were fun," recalls McDaid. "But then a pattern developed. The last boy out of the car would get fondled and rubbed and assaulted, and Father B. would ask, `Does that feel good? Don't you think you might like boys?' And you'd say, `No, Father. I like girls, Father.' "

--Globe, 5/15/02

Paul Shanley:

One of Shanley's victims, now 42, met him when he was 15 to discuss his difficult family life. The man, who asked not to be identified, said the session ended in a strip poker game - ''to help you feel comfortable with your body,'' he said Shanley told him - that led to sex.

--Globe, 1/31/02

Ronald Paquin:

According to Regan, Paquin abused his son from roughly 1974 to 1977, beginning when he was 11 and continuing until he was about 14. When his son turned 18, he became suicidal and voluntarily admitted himself to to a psychiatric hospital in New Hampshire, Regan said.

--Globe, 1/26/02

"Men." Yeah, right, Senator.

(Note: I see Atrios has focused on the same point.)