[Mariner]

These people should be prosecuted in criminal court......isn't RICO a criminal statute?

Conspiracy to commit and cover-up criminal child sexual abuse. Conspiracy to operate a criminal enterprise......arguably at a profit.

Once this is all said and done, most will be shocked to discover this problem was INSTITUTIONAL.

400 cases in Boston over the last 30 years alone. How many family men today were victims and just don't want their names and pictures on TV?

[Bonaparte]

Arguably, the elements for a federal RICO action are there. Longstanding. Pattern of criminal activity. Conspiracy to obstruct justice. All under the roof of one organizational entity. You see, the Catholic church accepts money from people. Lots of it. They don't make these contributions just because they happen to feel generous. They expect that they are supporting a certain kind of activity and not some other kind. Certainly, that representation has been made to them repeatedly by the church, so in light of these shocking revelations, it can be argued with some merit that parishioners were defrauded by the church, ie. instead of supporting morality and God, they were actually supporting sinfulness and Satan. The pay-out in a successful action of this type could potentially dwarf the billion or so the church has already coughed up.

[Bonaparte]

".....isn't RICO a criminal statute?"

It can be prosecuted as a criminal matter, a civil matter or both.

[Bonaparte]

Speaking of what happens to those in authority who cause others to stumble, this appeared in the paper today. If these RICOs against the church mushroom into a class action (and they could), the church's problems could proceed from critical to catastrophic.