[Carry_Okie]

IMO the Church should have turned those priests over for prosecution.

God's forgiveness does not absolve civic or civil accountability for their actions.

[Bonaparte]

I absolutely agree with you. This should have been SOP, if not for moral reasons then at least for their own legal protection. This is what happens when arrogance trumps decency and common sense. It's a powerful lesson for us all.

[Bonaparte]

There is no doubt that the church is going to endure much withering commentary from the bench, peppered liberally with phrases like, "knew or should have known," "reasonable care," and "a prudent individual," but there is one more aspect to all this that I neglected to bring up -- and that is the means by which the parents and victims were dissuaded from making criminal complaint. If these involved even a hint of fear-mongering or intimidation, then there are some clerics who will soon be sharing a cell with the Dapper Don.