Three observations:
1. I'm not Catholic, but I am sick at heart for my faithful Catholic friends, and the impact of this scandal on them and the church that they love.
2. I litigated a civil case against the local diocese a few years ago. The diocese wanted to breach a lease with our client, in order to sell the property to a developer. There is a lawyer in our city who represents the diocese on everything.
He was arguing that the diocese wasn't bound by the lease under Canon Law. -- Canon Law. I couldn't believe it. They were actually arguing that they weren't subject to the law of our jurisdiction, but to their own canon law. And they wanted to impose this canon law on our clients, who aren't Catholic. That would be like the Muslims arguing that they are subject to Sharia law, but not the civil law of the jurisdiction in which they reside, and that -- furthermore -- Sharia law should be imposed on non-Muslims.
Anyway, I was reminded of that by the remarks of the Cardinal who said they wouldn't cooperate with the civil authorities in the arrest and prosecution of these priests.
3. I would make any government authority jump through the appropriate hoops before releasing confidential documents, too. That would be true for any client, but especially if the client were a church with constitutional protections. I would not want to undermind those protections.
**He was arguing that the diocese wasn't bound by the lease under Canon Law.**
Unbelievable when you litigating a civil suit.
Don't worry too much about it. The Catholic church has already totally undermined its moral authority and standing in the WORLD, who cares about these secular Constutional issues when the church is a farce.
The conduct of the non-sexual abusing priests shows where their priorities are and it is in self protection and not that of their people, and forget the kids.