the purification should have happened when it first came to light, not only after civil authorities were involved.
It's pretty difficult to believe that the Catholic church is sincere about addressing the problem when it's gone on long enough to finally have civil authorities involved.
If they had taken the proper steps in the first place, it would have never had to get so far.
I don't think that congratulations are in order considering the slacking going on on the part of the church.
The Catholic Church didn't respond as quickly as many would have liked, but now HAS addressed this issue, largely because of the efforts of then Cardinal Josef Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI. All Dioceses in the US have programs in place to screen any and all volunteers who come into contact with children. I've been subject to background checks several times because of my positions as Classroom volunteer, and Religious Education teacher, in addition to Girl and Boy Scout activities. The formation of priests has also been addressed, and young men with obvious homosexual tendencies are no longer being allowed into Seminaries.
There are many religious denominations who have suffered from the same problems, we just haven't heard as much about them.