A major peeve.

[lady_zana]

and all the innocent people have to pay for a sin that didn't even involve them..

Sexual abuse involves everyone....when sexual abuse in a community occurs, everyone suffers.....from emotional pain to physical pain to paying for the aftermath out of their pockets.

It's sad that it has to hit people in their pocketbooks before they'll say "something needs to be done" but if that's what it takes so be it. Maybe they join an organization to end sexual abuse now.

If the only people that were "involved in the sin" had to deal with what occurred, the abuse cycle would never end. The victims would never come forward, still thinking they were the only ones it had happened to, and the molestors would continue to make more victims.

[columbine]

It's sad that it has to hit people in their pocketbooks before they'll say "something needs to be done" but if that's what it takes so be it. Maybe they join an organization to end sexual abuse now.

Yeah, that's not a characteristic of the Catholic church, it's a characteristic of our culture, where individual court decisions take the place of a broader shared ethic.

If the only people that were "involved in the sin" had to deal with what occurred, the abuse cycle would never end. The victims would never come forward, still thinking they were the only ones it had happened to, and the molestors would continue to make more victims.

Also, the perps in this particular case are part of a network whose job is to protect them, move them around geographically, and above all else keep it quiet - so the brouhaha, while bitter medicine, is particularly salubrious.