"So, Jim, when did the earliest recorded case of non-clergy child abuse take place"
Not an issue, but a diversion.
The clerics who raped and physically assaulted (not forgetting the latest inquiry - used girls as slaves - I wonder if anybody heard the two ex Magdalene nuns on the radio this week describing their victims as prostitutes and scum of society and insisting they were doing a good job keeping the streets clean of such people, finishing their diatribe with "apologise - for what?") used the "fear of and respect for the collar" to rape children, they took advantage of their position.
Your reply is not unlike one given on another thread - that Israeli war crimes and massacres are excusable because there are worse such criminals elsewhere.   
Nowhere can I find here any reference to the role of the hierarchy from the Pope (Christ's vicar) down who lied and hid these crimes and passed the criminals on to continue ruining young lives - I take it you have heard of Brendan Smythe who blamed the 100 plus children he raped and said he was doing them a favour, or words to that effect.
We've had our arguments in the past but I really am surprised to find you a hard-line apologist for these crimes.
To defend them as you appear to be doing, with such flimsy and dishonest arguments..... oh dear!
The only good to have come from this sordid affair is that never again
will the church be trusted enough to be able to repeat these crimes. I'm left with the impression that many of you have not grasped yet the damage this has done to the church as well as the children whose lives they ruined.
Jim Carroll