Without reading this thread I'm sure RC's have offered the defense that until the priests are convicted they shouldn't do anything, "innocent until proven guilty", after all. In something like sex abuse it makes sense to have law enforcement investigate before jumping to conclusions.
However, until the investigation is completed any accused should be removed from contact with any children. For example, my church had a church worker accused of sexual abuse at a summer camp we run. Our pastor told us of the accusation on the first Sunday following the accusation. The individual accused was pulled from the camp and all contact with children. Police were called immediately when the accusation was made. A couple weeks later our pastor told us that the investigation had been completed the accused had been cleared of all charges and that we should pray for the accuser because the accuser suffered from a mental disorder. All this was done with no secrecy and as a result no one expressed any concern about having their children around the wrongfully accused camp worker.
A policy of open disclosure has never been the RCC practice. This alone is why they should not be trusted.
The Catholic church, with the moral high ground it takes, should be leading the way by example of how to deal with sexual exploitation of others by its clergy and it hasnt.
MM you are being too kind. Where exactly is the RCC near the moral high ground on an issue?
I meant the moral high ground it professes to be taking.
Or perhaps the moral high ground it claims, would have been a better way of wording it.
Sorry.