As a once upon a time Catholic I concur with Keith about the RC institution being the core of focus and the individual parishioner as being more or less irrelevant and sometimes victim. It was my impression as a youthful Catholic that obedience and servility to the institution was the ball game, the rest didn?t matter. So, that is the aggressive part of my thought.
It is my understanding that the Boston Archdiocese is selling property and taking on long term debt to pay off the $90 million in judgments to past victims. It is also my understanding that two former Mass. Priests went to prison and one was killed by a fellow inmate. The long term debt will no doubt become the burden of Boston Parishioners which plays two messages to me. The first message is that once again the institution holds the faithful accountable for Church mismanagement and criminal activities. The second message is that the Vatican isn?t signing up for any civil trial financial damages from any Archdiocese. Those are heavy messages that are probably reverberating across US RC institutions and their respective parishioners. Bottom line from the Vatican: Ya?ll are on your own except what we dictate and the faithful pay the bills, regardless.
On a more positive note it my distinct understanding that the faithful of the RC Church have really dug in, are outraged, and it is unlikely any Priest or higher up is going to have their way with children anymore. And if they do, it is going to be the devil to pay for certain, period.
On a really scary note the organization that was co-founded by one of the imprisoned former Priests; North American Man Boy Love Association (NAMBLA), is now being represented and defended by the ACLU. Never mind that little boys are being rape sodomized, we got to look after the perps right of free expression I suppose. I call this situation just plane ugly and hideous. My thought is to just throw a net over the whole NAMBLA mob, weight it with pig iron ingots; the more the better, and pitch their slime-ball asses into the Atlantic and be done with it.
Let the the sea critters sort them out.
Scamp