"responded in a way that I would call the norm before 2002"
You mean up to the point where the the extent of the abuses hit the fan Joe - no problem with that whatever
If they didn't "know what to do" when they found the clergy were molesting (raping actually) children without "a strategy", than they were not fit to have children in their care
Surely, the first thing any thinking human being does is to prevent the offender from having any contact whatever with children - maybe what happens top the perp once he is discovered needs a plan, but that's it.
Instead, fellow priests stayed silent, Bishops catigated the parents and the predators were passed from parish to parish until their behaviour became to apparent to be hidden - then Africa became their stamping ground.
The hierarchy were a part of these abuses and the Vatican still refuses to release the documented evidence of them - the blunders of a Pope who seems to be a breath of fresh air, compared to what has gone before, is evidence enough that the Church still doesn't realise the enormity of this affair.
Ireland (one "Holy Ireland" is an interesting place to live at present
The Church is fighting desperately to hold on to its hold over children through the schools, the priests are preaching to near-empty churches and this morning Ireland has been told by the American business community that unless the schools drop their 'baptismal certificate' demand it will have a detrimental impact on trade with your country.
This year we will see yet another referendum on the rights of women to terminate pregnancy and the church is already sharpening its knives for the fray (pretty much as it did with same-sex marriage)
Interestingly, the Pro-Life crowd have employed the services of the agency that got Trump elected into office.
"Happy days are here again"
Jim Carroll