I guess I ought to add some clarification to this statement from Jim Carroll: A new load of clerical abuse klarts has just hit the fan with an announcement that PENNSYLVANIA has just discovered over 1,000 cases of clerical abuse having been covered up.

The Grand Jury report just released covers 6 of the 8 Catholic dioceses in the state. Previous reports covered the other two dioceses, so now there have been thorough, independent studies of the sex abuse scandal in all of the dioceses of Pennsylvania. I hope that these rigorous investigations are done nationwide, so the matter can finally be put to rest.

But how many of these cases are newly-discovered offenses? And when did these offenses occur?

No doubt, it is a horrible scandal - but we've known of this scandal and we've been dealing with it nationwide since it was reported by the Boston Globe in 2002.

-Joe-