So, Peter (Fionn), we have two accounts of an interview of Budzinski:

• New York Times (by way of Honolulu Star Bulletin), 27 March 2010
  
• Associated Press (by way of Dubuque Telegraph Herald) 26 March 2010

I suppose they could be two different interviews, but it seems to me that they probably describe the same incident. The NY Times article says:

Arthur Budzinski and Gary Smith, two more victims of Murphy, said in an interview last week that they remember seeing Archbishop Cousins yell, and Murphy staring at the floor.

The details make me think this is the more credible story.

Jim Carroll, in a typically dramatic overstatement, says: And a church that has placed itself above the law (in fact has invented their own law as an alternative) harboured and protected them and allowed them to carry on with their abuse.

The "invented their own law as an alternative" passage is ludicrous. Canon law is a system of internal rules for the Catholic Church. It does not supersede or countermand civil criminal law. Canon law covers church procedures, not government procedures. You make it sound as if it were wrong for an organization like a church to have internal rules. Nothing in Catholic canon law prohibits civil authorities from prosecuting crimes. That's just silly for you to imply otherwise.

The facts of the matter are bad enough, Jim. There's no need for your exaggeration. It does appear that the coverup was far more widespread in Ireland than in other countries, because it was the highest-ranking bishops in Ireland who were doing the coverups. Yes, coverups happened in dioceses in the US and in other countries, but certainly not in the majority of dioceses - except that in Ireland, it appears that there were serious coverups in almost every diocese.

And as I read the authority structure of the Catholic Church, the primary responsibility for oversight (or lack of oversight) in this matter lies in the individual dioceses, and not in Rome. For the most part, dioceses are autonomous; so 'the buck stops' in the office of the local bishop - for the most part. Rome has some oversight authority, but not as much as is implied in many posts here.

-Joe Offer-