Right on. That's exactly how he should have handled it. I've been listening to a "book of tape/CD" of JP11's book "Rise Let Us Be On Our Way". I didn't realize before I bought it that it was primarily intended as a memoir of his life and lessons about his ministry geared specifically for fellow clergy. But it's been interesting to hear the Great JP give practical lessons about how a priest or bishop should tend his flock. I think he would have concluded that the Bishops in Boston totally flunked. In fact, from a distance (though I travel to Boston & Cambridge, Mass. regularly for my job) I get the impression that the Bishops there don't relate to the people they are suppose to serve as a shepherd should his flock. Instead it's as if they're afraid of their own flock. They treat them in the same way the CEOs and top brass of a somewhat shady large corporation would treat their working stiff underlings. The CEOs are afraid to make press statements, always afraid of provoking some sort of "workers strike" -- everything is kept very hidden and quiet and told on a need to know basis. It's not a church, it's a corporation.
That's too true. One ugly part of what came out in the scandal is the archdiocese lawyers (presumably acting with the acquiescence of their client) acting as if they were in a particularly nasty commercial litigation. Hint: the relationship between a bishop and his flock isn't supposed to be adversarial. Start out by treating a relationship as adversarial, and you'll get more than you bargained for!