Click here for the database of bishop-accountability.org. This is an organization that is very critical of the bishops' handling of the sex abuse crisis in the Catholic Church in the U.S. This database attempts to keep track of all the accusations against priests in the US, and their handling and disposition.
As you can see, there are lots of instances where the cases were horribly mishandled. BUT you will also see that most of the time, the bishops did deal with the cases, and did not cover them up. Many, many cases were referred to law enforcement authorities for prosecution, and many of these molesters were convicted of criminal offenses. There were coverups, but the coverups were relatively rare.
There is no excuse for the crimes and coverups that did occur - but it is important to remember that, as with any crime, the vast majority of people did not participate in the crime in any way. It's easy to get a distorted view of crime from the newspapers, and some people live in constant fear of crime because of what they read.
Politicians are constantly accusing each other of being "soft on crime" - but the fact of the matter is that almost nobody approves of crime. Different people deal with crime in different ways. It IS a serious problem, but life goes on despite it.
The sex crimes in the Catholic Church ARE a serious problem - but those crimes are no reason for people to stop feeding the hungry and visiting the sick and burying the dead. Life goes on, despite crime. And most people, aren't criminals.

Jim Carroll, with his usual dramatic flair, says, "the real mystery is why the Catholic Church is allowed anywhere near children given the atrocities committed by the clergy." Following Jim's flawless logic, I suppose one could also say, "the real mystery is why adult males are allowed anywhere near children given the atrocities committed by adult males." The percentage of adult males committing crimes against children, is about the same as the percentage of Catholic priests committing those crimes - even in Ireland.

Now, Jim, let me make it clear that I do not approve of crimes against children in any way. I just think it is unfair to suspect every priest or every member of any class* of such crimes. If the crimes are committed, then prosecute the criminals - not their families, not their neighbors, and not their religious affiliations.

-Joe Offer-


*class: any group of people having some characteristic in common. This word is sometimes used to refer to social and economic classes, but that is not the only meaning of the word.

Emma - your "document trail" referred to the same case for which Mary Garvey condemns the Pope. I was referring to Mary's comments, not to yours. It may be that the Pope was guilty of wrongdoing in connection with the child abuse and molestation - that has yet to be proved.