Joe, try to stop thinking of your church as a commercial enterprise. Forget its huge banking interests etc and try to imagine it as a fellowship; a source of moral authority. It might take a leap of imagination, but if you go down that track you might begin to remember that bishops, cardinals and popes take upon themselves significant pastoral duties as well as budget-control responsibilities, resources management and all the other stuff associated with business admin. Bishops like to consider themselves a little bit more than "upper management".

Have a look at the case of John Magee. Is he one of those bishops whom you assume to be "just incompetent"? His perverse handling of two abuse cases became the subject of a report by Ireland's National Board for Child Protection. The report's criticisms were so withering that Magee's diocese threatened legal action if it were published. In the face of a public outcry the report waspublished, eventually, and Magee promptly stood down from his clerical duties. He had no alternative. After dithering for a year, Ratzinger has at last accepted Magee's resignation, and Magee now basks in the title of "emeritus bishop."

It would be stretching things to present Magee as an innocent abroad. He spent some 20 years at the very heart of the Vatican, serving for much of that time as private secretary to successive popes. Could he have spent so close to the throne of St Peter for so long, without learning to distinguish between right and wrong?

"Just incompetent"? I would be surprised.