He told a story about a young man who was abused in this area before the diocese was formed. The priest was sent to jail and I think everyone got a settlement. Against lawyers advice, our bishop went to the families of these children and apologized and offered help. Years later a man called him cussing and screaming and saying how that priest had ruined his life and that he wanted to kill himself. Our bishop arranged to meet him in person and flew to Dallas to see him, counselled him, and paid for professional counselling. I just felt very proud of him and much more loyal to him because he cared enough to do something instead of rationalizing.
NOw I might be rationalizing but I think when he hired our priest even though he had a past abuse on his record, it was this same love for people that made him trust that the priest would do no harm. And even then, he made sure he was supervised by another priest. So in the end it is his loving and trusting which got him in trouble. We just feel very lucky that nothing happened in our parish.