[Emperor Palpatine]

This whole case is a travesty.

Go after the molestors, not the hierarchy.

If this is allowed to stand, no one will be safe from being charged with a conspiracy or complicity in anything from some overly-ambitious prosecutor out to make a name for himsef, (or more likely herself.)

[brent13a]

This whole case is a travesty.

Go after the molestors, not the hierarchy.

What?!?! That's like saying "go after the drug users and not the drug dealers".
The preeminent problem within the catholic church is the hierarchy who hid, covered for, shuffled around, and outright enabled these travesties to happen. If all you do is get rid of one generation of pedophiles and then allow the hierarchy to remain whom covered for them in the first place...they'll just replace them with a new generation of pedophiles.
It's pretty simple, really. If the catholic church want the travesties to stop, and the ongoing revelations to cease, then the catholic church needs a church-wide PURGE of all the pedophiles & homosexuals IN ADDITION TOO the hierarchy who covers for them and enables them. If all the church does is squirrel them away then the disease will continue to spread.

[count-your-change]

True, nothing would be worse for the cause of justice than a prosecutor trying to show how tough they are or trying to show that their own Catholic background doesn't influence them.

But as the article points out, this is a first and might indeed open the floodgates to similar prosecutions.

[will of the people]

“This whole case is a travesty.

Go after the molestors, not the hierarchy.

If this is allowed to stand, no one will be safe from being charged with a conspiracy or complicity in anything from some overly-ambitious prosecutor out to make a name for himsef, (or more likely herself.)”

You could not be more incorrect.
Information that is required to be passed to law enforcement, was not.
A person known to be a danger to minors was allowed to stay in a position where he had access and authority.

I have personally had FReepers tell me that the priests were victims of overzealous promiscuous youths

I believe:
The Catholic church continues to view this as more of a financial liability than a moral failing

The bottom line is this. Anyone knowing or suspecting sexual impropriety involving a minor has but one legal and moral course; report it immediately to authorities and make sure it is acted upon.

Anything less, and the person with knowledge has just become an accessory to the crime. They too are guilty!

I wish I believed the Catholic Church had learned that lesson and embraced the responsibility associated with it. Other churches and secular organizations have.

If the Catholic church does not, without reservation, change this culture of ‘keeping it quiet and internal’ they will soon be bankrupt. Those with knowledge who fail to act must pay a price to force this cultural change. It is obvious that the Catholic church has moved reluctantly and grudgingly toward correcting this issue.

And save your breath, I’ve read the John Jay report.

Quit protecting sexual predators.
Quit protecting sexual predator protectors.
Quit equivocating.
NOW!

will wallace