Ed...You fail to note that most of these offenses were committed by men on pubescent boys.....The Catholic church did not encourage or instigate these crimes, each one was purely personal to the men who carried them out.

Where the Church failed was in being like any large organisation and practicing a form of damage limitation.

The Church can be criticised and censured for acting like a corporation and cowardice in the face of the evidence, but not for being the CAUSE of the crimes.

Any enquiry within the Church, should look very closely at the celibacy rule and rates of homosexuality in the priesthood.