Catholic Church Abuse Scandal: Ryan John

Call me unethical, but I can sometimes justify covering up certain situations in your organization for it's common good and sustainability.  Assuming your organization is a good one, I can see cutting a few corners and avoiding certain legal consequences if you can because sometimes, less face it, the law can be too bureaucratic and time consuming.  If I ran a home security business and found out one of my guys was using his technical skills to steal cars on the weekends, at the very least I'd fire him.  I may not offer a press release, but I wouldn't simply transfer that guy to another branch so I didn't have to deal with him.  It's amazing the church did that.
 
Why the Catholic Church both in the United States and Europe covered up so many sex abuse scandals is beyond me.  I guess I have a few theories.  They were afraid of reducing an already diminished priesthood and catholic community.  Plus, they feared the fund raising difficulties if donors knew that some of that money was used to handle court cases.  And maybe they thought, one abuse case was a mistake and it may never happen again if the man had a fresh start.
 
Yes, the letter Pope Benedict wrote to the Irish is a step in the right direction.  However, what the Catholic Church needs to think about is why so these cases of sexual and physical abuse was so rampant in the first place.  This is obviously more than just some PR work that needs to be done.  People look at the Church as God's place on earth...A priest is almost the personification of God and a priest is someone expected to embody God like qualities that the average man doesn't possess which is why we turn to them.  Needless to blog, molestation and pedophilia is the antithesis of this principle.  So, a letter is a step. A leap would be a philosophical look at the recruitment of and orientation of new priests in the Catholic Church to not just consider, but implement a very different one.