Fionn I think it was you who made a comment early in this thread that it was all about power. Reminded me of something my brother-in-law (an Irish Christian Brother) said years ago about priests. "I feel sorry for them," he said."Everything they do is about power"

He preferred the brothers with their sense of community.

The Irish connections comes to mind because the abuse seems to have worse or more concentrated in Ireland or in communities where Irish prelates had power. (Another horrible story out today about Jesuits in a California school abusing mentally retarded individuals for years.Not pedophiles but damn close. Most of the names --not all--are Irish).

Not sure what all that means, but it is hard to believe it is only coincidental.

Mary Gordon once wrote that Irish men were the only ones who believed what the Catholic Church told them.