"But we called the cops; the RC church in the USA did extensive coverups of pederast priests"
In hindsight, it probably would have been better if the bishops would have come out and did something. However, we are being anachronistic by saying such things.
I had heard something interesting that applies to this a few months ago. I think practically every family, for example, has their "uncle Bob", the strange one who you knew did some very unusual things - whether it was molesting one of your cousins, or maybe a closet homosexual, or perhaps the family knew he was breaking the law stealing or whatever. How did families handle such affairs in the 1980's or earlier? Did they run around and call the cops on "uncle Bob"? Hardly. They tried to deal with it without bringing attention to the family. Or they pretended that uncle Bob would eventually stop doing what everyone knew he was doing. That was the way things were done then. What was the purpose, then, of bringing out this dirty laundry?
We have to remember this mindset was active (probably still is) in most people.
Today, most people think that airing dirty laundry is the right thing to do (as long as it isn't their own laundry!). In this sue-happy society, it seems more important to extract a pound of flesh from someone than to try to help the person with the problem. So far, what has been done to try to help those with the problem? True, these people should be prosecuted, but that seems to be the only concern - to sue and get money for the defendant - who often times was accusing someone from 20 plus years ago and was dead!
Another factor to consider was that psychologists of the 1980's advice to the Church, in retrospect, was partially responsible for the continued coverup. These "professionals" advice was that priests with problems should undergo a few months of counseling and that would do the trick. Only now are we learning that many of these people will NEVER be fully cured of their addiction - sort of like an alcoholic. If psycologists were telling bishops that priests could be "cured", more or less, of their addiction, can you understand why they would be reluctant to go public when they thought they could fix it in a few months?
What happened was terrible. The Bishops have to take the blame in some regards. However, we should try to place ourselves in their shoes before we judge them. The advice they were given by professional psychologists was flat out wrong. It was not common at the time to bring out the dirty laundry when they thought they could fix matters internally. We should not fault those who made the effort to fix things with what they knew and the accepted norms of the time. We should look more at those who merely moved guilty priests around to other parishes. Those are the ones, I think, that are noteworthy and deserving of blame. What is important now is that the Church has taken the necessary steps to protect both the victim, and to help the person with the problem (hopefully, by identifying such people BEFORE they enter the priesthood).
Regards
Well, I actually don't come from a family like that, so I don't know how that denial dynamic works. However, that's a minor issue.
In this sue-happy society, it seems more important to extract a pound of flesh from someone... who often times was....20 plus years ago and was dead!
I do suspect that there are quite a few gold diggers creating false allegations at this point. They see a gold rush, they try to cash in.
Another factor to consider was that psychologists of the 1980's advice to the Church, in retrospect, was partially responsible for the continued coverup. These "professionals" advice was that priests with problems should undergo a few months of counseling
That's the best explanation I've heard yet. Thanks. Truth must be faced whatever anguish of spirit it may bring, but, there's a certain relief in finding out that there's a more benign explanation for something. If the bishops were trying to do the right thing -- but based on bad advice from the pshrinks -- that's a lot more palatable that believing that they were all part of a massive coverup.