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Here's the same story as reported by th New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/21/world/europe/21ireland.html?em

If it happened, it's horrific. Criminal.

But look again at the article. We find that:

Many of the accused priests, brothers and nuns are long dead (unable to confront accusers or defend themselves from charges).
The commission was largely unsuccessful in getting records from the Education Department. (i.e., no documentary evidence).
agencies were regarded as "uncooperative" if they asked for proof of the allegations.
there’s a significant monetary motive for presenting these unprovable allegations ($1.5 billion in compensation, paid by the government.)
accusers don't even have to pay their own legal fees.

Take those same factors and apply them to a different hypothetical situation.

Say people in Italy, Germany, Korea, Japan, etc. claimed that U.S. soldiers abused them as civilians 50, 60, and 70 years ago.

Say the accused were long dead; written records were either unobtainable or nonexistent; US agencies which insisted on proof were deemed "uncooperative"; and there was a large, highly publicized monetary fund available to reward those who made accusations without evidence.

Would we, as Americans, assume the accusations were true, and join in a worldwide chorus condemning U.S. servicemen abroad as monsters of depravity?

No? No?

Hmm. Interesting.

Unfortunately, post #40, which quotes the article, blows that out of the water.

The Catholic church agrees the stuff happened (at least to some extent), but that they didn’t see rapes of children as legal offenses to be admitted to civil authorities, but as something that could be dealt with internally, allowing abusers to ultimately be given more kids to rape.