Research to date has accounted for the recent sexual scandal in the Roman Catholic Church primarily with attributions to the personal psychopathology of the individual offenders. This article suggests that the recent sexual scandal in the Catholic Church has complex roots not only in the personal psychopathology of those priests who abuse minors but also in the social structure of Catholic life during the period in which these events took place. Attributing the cause of the scandal to the personal psychopathology of the offending priests alone is simplistic and risks discounting the role of social factors in a way that could sustain the threat of future injury. Summary data from the John Jay Study (2004) dispel common misconceptions of psychopathology in priests. A majority of the incidents took place from 1960 to 1979 by priests who were ordained in their late 20s and committed their first offense in their mid-30s. This data suggests a more complex conceptualization that accounts for the influence of Roman Catholic clerical socialization from 1950 to 1969 and the contemporaneous shifts in American culture. Future research is needed to clarify the relationship between sociocultural and interpersonal predictors of sexual immaturity and the risks to community life they involve. Figures, references