I am not a Christian of any kind, so the news that priests, like other human beings, are often corrupted by their power is not *particularly* surprising or dismaying to me. However, I have repeatedly seen two statements about the Church's handling of these cases that, if true, seem to me outrageous:

1. Some priests who got caught were quietly transferred to other places where they still had access to young people. Chastity aside, Christians are supposed to believe that prudence is a cardinal virtue.

2. When priests were accused, the Church sometimes has made monetary settlements out of court. Such an attempt to avoid scandal can only multiply it, by creating an incentive to make false accusations, which in such cases are hard to tell from true ones.