Did Belgium get it right?

I understand that local district attorneys have great difficulty getting information requested by subpoena. The Feds should take notice and put pressure on the Vatican trough the Dept. of State. I would go so far as to withdraw recognition so that the nuncio would not have diplomatic status. I could see a situation where several countries got tired of the Vatican and simply took over with military. I think Garibaldi was right but unfortunately he left the pope in the Vatican. Too bad the pope was not sent to the Lateran to live as an Italian citizen.

The Catholic Church should not be a secular country.

I suspect that if the subpoenas were answered, we would have a bishop shortage.The bishops are just disgusting.

To answer your question, substitute in your well-documented paper the word "manager" for "bishop" and for '"cardinal". Replace the word "priest" with "employee". Replace the word "church" with "organization". Read the story again and it becomes completely incredible for the modern United States and some other parts of the world, including Belgium. Among others, Marci Hamilton at Cardozo Law School has long pushed for a national response to a widespread well-recognized plague of criminal collaboration. She recently pointed out The Belgians Make Washington Look Bad .

As the saying goes, Truth is the antidote to scandal. Too bad the bishops don't know that.

The enemy of your enemy is your friend, eh?

These successors of the Apostles have and are behaving in rather curious ways. If one did not believe otherwise, one would suspect that their actions were more representative of Costa Nostra Dons than Roman Catholic Bishops. Wait! It seems I heard this somewhere before. 

What I read in this article is that Roman Catholic Bishops cannot distinguish between image and reality. Either this is a serious psychological flaw in their personalities or they are consciously engaging in a public relations approach to a serious clerical failing that is and has proved an absolute disaster.

These men are not the Moses to lead the Church out of the cesspool they have gotten the Church into. They are too contaminated with their own arrogance, egotism and narcissism to teach, lead and heal. Their self-delusion and contempt for those they fail to see as their peers in Christ will only continue to tax the belief system they claim to hold in such regard.

To listen and practice obedience to their pronouncements requires a suspension of disbelief. Such is the state these false prophets have brought us to.  

In spite of the question posed in the title being largely ignored in the body of the text, and in lieu of the fact that nothing incriminating was found in the stated Belgium incident...and if you feel that the Catholic Church losing the respect and good will of other countries is a good thing, then Belgium got it right by disregarding the rights, im that instance, of the Catholic Church; the same church that was founded by Christ by the way, which will as promised, survive, in spite of the continuing attempts of satan and all of his cohorts, with their awareness or not...to destroy it!

The jury is still out on what was found in Belgium since all the documents are being studied. What has been revealed by this sex abuse crisis is thoroughly irresponsible leadership that the leaders seem incapable of revising.

The Belgian police are not trying to destroy the Church. They are taking the rule of law seriously. Nobody is above the law. I wish we'd remember that more often in the US. If it were you or your kid abused would you want everyone pretending it was no big deal and covering it up?

Freedom does not mean license...the Catholic Church, by opposing various laws to increase the statute of limitations is just continuing its rape of victims...

I look forward to an issue of NCR on the internet that does not focus on the topic of sexual abuse by priests and religious nuns.

Sipe has neatly laid out the framework of the scandal of episcopal secrecy.

Thanks to the work of the grand juries, the evidence made apparent in civil cases, and the investigations of the secular press it is clear there are instances of crime perpetrated by members of the episcopate in the United States. There is also clear evidence of grave errors and wrongs perpetrated by that same episcopate by omission or commission.

If in order to effect change in the regional church in the United States we citizens have to enact laws disallowing diplomatic recognition of the Vatican then so be it. Once it becomes clear that passports from the Vatican have no currency then mayhaps the civil and judicial authorities will treat the episcopacy as any other resident or visitor (if the bishop is from oversees)in the United States who is suspected of crimes.

Of course they got it right! Criminals should not hide behind the Roman collar.

I have grown tired of reading about "child abuse," homosexual behavior among
the clergy, pedophilia, etc. etc. etc. However, I am well aware of the need
to keep this in front of the faces of the laity, the clergy, the bishops, the cardinals, the curia and the pope. They think eventually it will all just "go away." So keep me tired. I can stand to be tired. I want them to
"go away." We should not be led by a corrupt church.

Jesus Christ is the center of the Church's life and the baptized are all part of the mission and work he began. But Jesus did not give details about how the church should be organized, nor did he speak in favor, or disapproval, of the current Roman Catholic Church corporate culture. He did send the Spirit as a helper and guide. While the Spirit of God, may indeed serve the mission of Christ in a special way thru the hierarchy, THE CORPORATE CULTURE OF CHURCH HIERARCHY IS NOT IMMUNE FROM CORPORATE NARCISSISM. All corporations from British Petroleum to Enron to the US Federal government must confront the dysfunction and violence that betrays the good of their missions. The Roman Catholic Church hierarchy is no exception. It may be so that it is "the will of Christ" for there to be different roles serving the mission of the church. But that fact does not give permission for hierarchs to burn incense before the hierarchical status quo and claim "rule by divine right". The people of the 21st Century have little tolerance of righteous corporate blindness. The longer systemic reform is delayed, the sooner and more dramatic the collapse of the status quo will be!

--A priest for 37 years in good standing flying under the radar of the overseers

I'm torn on this one. On one hand, the bishops seem a pretty dirty bunch. They deserve a good legal roughing up if anyone ever did. On the other, I'm afraid the whole issue could become politiczed. All too well can I imagine mayors and governors staging photo-op raids, employing degrees of force that are perhaps unecessary and certainly unseemly. (Right now, I'm picturing Bishop Lori of Bridgeport, Connecticut staring down the muzzles of a Benelli shotgun and a very hungry German shepherd.) Just as easily, I can imagine a backlash, with rival politicians stepping in to plead for the Church, and by extension, to enable abusers. It could become a very nasty business all around.

And when all was said and done, would the Church really end up learning anything? I have the horrible idea she wouldn't. Though I agree that no instiution can police itself, I think it's equally true that every organization must reform itself. So far, hard knocks have not put the Church in a self-reforming mood. All they've done is make her more prone to self-pity and self-delusion. For all her occasional fine words on the subject (not to mention her even more occasional fine gestures), her knee-jerk reaction seems to go: "Here we are, persecuted and misunderstood -- a true sign of contradiction. Yay, us."

As long as the majority of people in the pews are like Dan from San Clemente, nothing will be done.

I would love to know what he means by Christ "founding" the Church.
I bet he thinks the hierarchical structure was all settled in detail at the Last Supper when Christ "ordained" the Apostles.
As long as the bishops have immature and unthinking sheep like Dan to boss around, nothing will change.

We deserve the Church we've got unless we do something to change it.

As always the only ones the roman catholic church wants to protect are the boys of the ordained hierarchy....I wonder how they will answer Jesus when he asks them about the children who came to ask them about God. kerrie weitzel

Few push the process forward better than you do, Richard. What process? The one that will lead to the Church having to account for its despicable actions in courts of law across the globe. Imagine the new 7 figure legal bills headed toward the Vatican and diocesan mailboxes on top of the ones that are there already. Everyone (or their successors)from the very top on down will eventually appear on the witness stands of numerous courtrooms. Truth, ever relentless, will have its way.

I hope that somehow this essay could reach every DA's office across the USA. Way too much has been gotten away with for waaaayyy too long but folks like Jeff Anderson and others with similar tenacity and passion will surely never give up. Way too many of the guilty enjoy cushy jobs or 'enhanced' retirements while countless victims face the daunting challenges of survival. Justice will be restored.

Much to my surprise I found out that a religious organization of which I was a member refused to send useful material (copies of my letters and replies from superiors)to a doctor who was treating me. The reason given was to protect the confidentiality of the "organization". I still find this hard to believe. I would think the health of a member would trump "confidentiality" - especially as the request came from a doctor.

Book 'em, Danno.

When did Jesus/ Christ begin the catholic church? From my study of history Jesus was born a Jew and died a Jew. He was an adherent to the Torah. Congratulations Richard on your well written paper. We need more people to understand the major problem the church is facing at this time and we must be open to a new way of being church if the so called catholic church is to survive. God is not going to save the catholic church as we are not special just because we call ourselves catholic. We have to have a church that promotes social justice and prtection of all its members, especially the most at risk our children. Jesus would not want to belong to a church that promotes one coverup after another. Hopefully the Vatican will soon see the light and open the church to all its members not just a few. Jesus did not dicriminate against women and gays. He was all inclusive.

What does Cardinal Law think what happened in Belgium as he sits in his palace and wonders.

"Does the U.S. Catholic church need the kind of intervention that Belgium civil authorities are willing to institute?"
Yes. But it may be too late to do much good here.
I hope and believe that Christ's church will survive, but I don't see it as coextensive with the bishops-and-up of the Vatican structure. They are not part of the solution.
Dan of San Clemente misses the point: the behavior of many American bishops illustrates the extent to which bishops of any provenance seem prepared go to protect what they hold most dear. Unfortunately that doesn't appear to be the children of the church. That being the case, and the history of child abuse in Belgium being what it is, the civil authorities of Belgium were justified in their actions.

In spite of concern about the treatment of the Church in Belgium by the civil authorities, the fact is that the incident left the Church there with less damage to its reputation than the Church in Ireland, Germany or America where the state accepted ecclesiastical lies otherwise described as equivocation, mental reservations, forgetfulness or other forms of mendacity totally lacking in credibility. Whether we feel that Belgium got it right or not, perhaps we need to recognize that the real scandal for most of us is less about the actual abuse and more the cover-up by those in authority.

Dr. Sipe wrote in part:     “…would the real interests of the Catholic community be better served,   would justice be better accomplished if civil authorities treated bishops and priests with less deference?     Should Mafia-like behavior by bishops and priests be viewed as "organized crime" rather than peccadilloes best tended to within the clerical brotherhood?”

The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO Act) is a federal law that applies to ‘organized’ criminal activity and also provides for a civil cause of action.     It has been used in a few suits filed against Catholic dioceses,   specifically giving “cause” as bribery and blackmail toward victims and families,   and also under indecency provisions,   among others .    
.
It was not used against Bernard Law prior to his escape to the Vatican — perhaps the authorities didn’t get a chance to do so due to his quick exit to safer territory from which he would not be extradited.     Process servers were a few steps and a few hours too late for Law’s flight across the Atlantic Ocean.     There is also the matter of politics;   there is a general loathing to ‘take on’ the Roman Catholic Church organization in such a high profile venue.     It would be a political third rail,   sad to say.     It would make the political fallout over WACO seem like a block party.
.
See the articles referenced below for some interesting ‘extras’:

http://old.nationalreview.com/dreher/dreher032802.asp

http://www.slate.com/id/2075831/

.
For sure,   the Roman institution has its own cadre of lawyers on retainer,   and all of them advised Church leaders on how to escape the scrutiny of the law and subsequent prosecution — morality be damned — in their minds this was about big money,   staying out of prison and refusing admission of guilt.     The hierarchs’ parsing of words and pleading a lapse of memory under oath was legally coached ahead of time — the same script over and over again.     Don’t say anything that you cannot weasel out of later.
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Belgium authorities had been badly burned politically for failing to act in the past,   and they didn’t want to go there again.     That might be what it would take to motivate criminal authorities in this country,   rather than leaving it to a handful of individual attorneys under tort law.     Meanwhile,   the Vatican has a foot on two planks:     "we are a religious group with First Amendment protections" and then,   "oh wait,   we are actually a sovereign country with diplomatic immunity" and then,   "well we are sorta both,   and it's all too complicated to explain".     And so it goes...   nowhere.

Dan, are you a Bishop? It is hard to take all that is happening within the RC Church, but come on. How can you continue to defend the heirarchy that is (mainly) rotten to the core. And, just so you truly understand the history of our Church, Christ did NOT found the Roman Catholic Church. The church he handed over to Peter was far, yea very, very far, from the RC Church of today, which is not to say that many of the Protestant churches have it totally together either. But, none of them have a heirarchy that demands obedience from the top down, no questions asked, and please no input or suggestions that do not agree with heirarchical pronouncements.

Richard Sipe, profound thanks for the fine work you do and the relentless way in which you do it. How you continue in the face of such ecclesiastic arrogance and obstinacy is truly amazing. Because you are undeterred, countless children and adults benefit from your work. Thank God for your patience, intelligence, courage, and determination. His love of us and your love of others sustains you for sure.

Dan should read the Decameron - particularly the story where a person had a Jewish friend who, after consideration, decided to visit Rome before making a final committment to conversion. On return the friend said that he would convert as any church that could survive the corruption in Rome must have some solid basis in faith. Satan and his cohorts often wear red silk and white lace.
It is interesting to see that the defence of the "institutional church", which was not actually founded by Christ (at least in the form after it was Romanized) appears to be more important than Christ's teachings.
The Church (which includes the 99% which is not in the heirarchy) is not wrong but the "institutional church" can be wrong.

Thank you, Dan. You have just hit the nail on the head. Of course the Church, founded by Jesus, will survive, in the hearts and souls of the people. And if any group is attempting to destroy the people of God it is the roman catholic hierarchy who allowed children to be raped by priests- by covering for them, by protecting them, and often, even promoting them.

And then they listened to the sins of the village and baptized our children.

We are so blessed to have had the scholarship and wisdom of Dr. Sipe. And his courage.

Blessings be.

AW

Fishing for information
I'm dismayed at the lack of understanding by the people of the world as to the damage that is perpetrated on all of human kind. Not by the abuse but by the people who cover it up i.e. insurance companies and religious institutions and government entities.
The damage is not just to the victim but the extended family’s as it (abuse, trauma and PTSD) turns to an aggressive cancer and runs an uncountable path of destruction. A course as of yet professionals are unable to assess the extended damages.
This article does skin some of the fish. Now let’s fillet the fish and get to the real bones of the issue.
It starts with the Catholic Church opening up the records on the pedophiles as they are the leading experts on abusers worldwide. The RCC has been studying this deviant behavior for years. One would think the Church would freely give up such important information for the assistants it would provide human kind. But no they continue to pretend they are not doing catch and release. They act like they are just the good guys being dealt another bad day fishing by the world and poor them and the weather was bad and the gas that was burned.
The RCC chooses to keep moving the fish from sea to sea with no real intention of stopping any fish. Except the occasional priest that may run himself aground like Father Oliver O’Grady. Then they offer him some package under the table to keep his mouth shut.
This article by Mr. Sipe is more pointed. But my writing is from an x-homeless man that was abused as a child. I’ve come miles since then and fishing and the ocean is what kept me alive. Hence my analogy of fish.

Time to put an end to child terrorism – we don’t need any more surprises
By Mike Ference

The truth continues to come out in that sex abuse soap opera more descriptively defined as the child terrorism sex saga of clergy abuse crimes and ongoing Catholic hierarchy cover-ups. Will the recent disclosures about Roger Cardinal Mahony, made by a Catholic Church insider, (of Mahony's refusal to tell police and parishioners about an admitted child molester) be a one-way ticket and quick getaway to Rome for the California red hat? Will it be much like Bernard Cardinal Law's painless exile of 2002, or will criminal charges finally be filed against Roger “The Terrorist Dodger” Mahony?

Now for the Details

A once-prominent LA archdiocesan insider revealed under oath, that in the Year 2000, Los Angeles cardinal, Roger Mahony, chose to protect the identity of a sexual predator rather than go to the authorities and do the right thing. To borrow a quote from the late Jim Nabers, a.k.a. Private Gomer Pyle, “Surprise, surprise, surprise.”

In 1986, a Catholic monsignor, no less Michael Baker, personally confessed to Mahony that he was a child molester. So, what does the Archbishop of Los Angeles do? ANS: Send Baker to other parishes where even more alleged child molestation would take place. As usual, no parishes or communities were warned of the oncoming child-terrorist.

In a sworn deposition of Tuesday, September 15, top Mahony sidekick Msgr. Richard Loomis said that he warned Mahony, as far back as in 2000, that police and parishioners needed to have been told about Baker’s admission and yet other allegations, after two more victims of Baker's terrorism had come forward. Instead, Mahony insisted that no one be told. One can only wonder how Mahony’s public relations team and legal defense staff will spin this latest escapade of Mahony’s convoluted career as protector of child predators; especially as Mahony presumably lays in a constant fetal position, awaiting quasi-exoneration from the Vatican.

In January 2006, Baker was arrested at the LA International Airport after having returned from vacationing in Thailand. Sadly, it should be noted that Thailand is a third-world haven for dysfunctional sex freaks seeking to have sex with underage girls and boys. In 2007, Baker was convicted of molesting two boys and is presently serving a 10 year sentence. Another note worth mentioning is that, in 2002, Baker was also charged with 34 counts of sexually abusing other kids, but the charges were dismissed because of a United States Supreme Court decision regarding the statute of limitations (the Stogner case).

Loomis’ revelations and an ongoing federal investigation into even more LA archdiocesan cover ups could link Mahony to plenty more acts of terrorism aimed at innocent children. Only time will tell, but honestly, how much more time is needed for the truth to finally be told, once and for all. The Catholic hierarchy in America and at the Vatican have been given countless FREE passes, yet they continue to cover things up via their public relations spin doctors and legal teams.

If this type of terrorism were discovered in any other organization, a swift and just internal investigation would have ensued where the appropriate criminal parties would have been dealt with by a fair and just legal system. Sadly, our politicians have played the Catholic vote card – not once, but too many times. We can easily see who was dealt the winning hand.

War tactics should be applied to Vatican abusers and those covered up crimes
By Mike Ference

Every day brings new evidence that we no longer live in a civilized and principled society. The worst part, it usually concerns another case of sexual misconduct involving a Catholic priest, young children and a church hierarchy that helped to cover up the case.

The recent Associated Press (AP) tally of 73 documented cases with allegations of sexual abuse by priests against minors over the past decade in Italy with more than 235 victims is just one more indication that Catholic Church Hierarchy has certainly outlived any usefulness to society. Italian clerics preyed on poor, physically or mentally disabled or drug-addicted youths entrusted to their care. To make it even worse the victims were deaf students from a Catholic-run school making it easier to enforce the “never to tell” for fear of retaliation that much easier to enforce. Still able to keep the Sunday brunch down that you enjoyed earlier after Sunday mass, it even gets worse.

In some of the case tallied by the AP, there were charges of inducing boys into prostitution and participation in satanic rituals. In one notorious case an elderly Florentine priest was determined by the church to be responsible for sexual abuse, false mysticism and domination of consciences.
Click on the link below or cut and paste into your browser for the rest of the story
http://www.examiner.com/x-12613-Pittsburgh-Independent-Examiner~y2009m9d...

And they still deny the heinous crimes and expect their weekly bounty of donations. But as more and more cases of abuse — and cover-up — come to light, one begins to wonder whether the Pope and his entourage of red hats should be considered any more trustworthy than, say, Saddam Hussein.

So — what should be done now that we know it’s a pattern of terror orchestrated by the Catholic Church and repeated everywhere the dysfunctional sex freaks have established a church, school, hospital or other institution. Given the level of wreckage and anguish caused in the lives of so many people, it seems appropriate to look to the war on terror for a model strategy.
Click on the link below or cut and paste into your browser for the rest of the story
http://www.examiner.com/x-12613-Pittsburgh-Independent-Examiner~y2009m6d...

A first prong of attack at the Vatican might involve a Special Forces unit made up of highly skilled and trained military personnel capable of tracking down and obtaining confessions from any current or former priests accused of acts of sexual abuse against children. If rights are violated, if military personnel sometimes go a little too far, so be it. The Catholic Church had ample opportunity to fess up and repent. Those incapable of civilized behavior shouldn’t expect the rights and privileges of civilization.

A deck of cards can be created to help identify hard-to-find priests as well as the disgraceful church leaders who permitted, and in essence, condoned the sexual abuse of young children. Photos of the most deviant and reprehensible church officials accompanied by a list of their offenses will encourage us all to do our patriotic duty in helping the authorities track down suspected priest-terrorists or at least be able to identify the culprits as they come and go freely because their sins where covered up and the time to criminally prosecute has expired.

Another option would be to divide the world into territories. A color-code warning system would be established, alerting parents about abusive priests being transferred into their respective regions. Depending on the designated color for a particular region, parents would know whether their children should serve at Mass, go on field trips, or even attend Catholic school that day.

To aid this unique war on terror, a pool of money should be collected, not involuntarily from taxpayers, but voluntarily from those decent human beings who believe crimes committed against our children are sins that God takes very seriously. Some of the funds raised could then be turned into outrageously tempting reward sums for information leading to the capture of our targeted criminals. Once the rogue clerics have been imprisoned and forced to talk, I recommend that their confessions be given to someone like Steven Spielberg or George Romero. Hollywood writers and producers could create a blockbuster movie like Roots or Schindler’s List to serve as a bitter reminder that these crimes should never again be permitted to occur. Tom Savini could be hired to recreate the horror on the faces of child actors chosen to play parts.

Proceeds from the movie could go to victims of abuse and their families. And no matter how old the crime, compensation would be available. There should be no statute of limitations when the rights of children have been violated by those who lived much of their adult lives perched on a pedestal heightened by the trust of innocent and vulnerable believers. In fact, I would extend compensation to the second and perhaps even third generation of sufferers. It would certainly include siblings denied the experience of growing up with a brother or sister untraumatized by such abuse. And since crimes of abuse tend to echo, it would extend to the victims of the victims as well.

If all else fails, is it any less rational to declare war on the Catholic Church as part of a war on child abuse than it was to declare war on Iraq (which had nothing to do with 9/11 or Al-Qaeda and apparently had no weapons of mass destruction) as part of a war on terror? How many innocent children have been verifiably lost to this menace — and how many more will be lost if we don’t make a preemptive strike?

As horrific as sexual abuse by priests may be, the perpetrators might merit a more forgiving place if only their superiors had the courage to do the right thing. For a few, counseling and close supervision might have been enough to prevent future abuses. Others clearly required something more intensive — a mental hospital or a prison.

But repeated abuse, as well as willfully hiding the crimes and the criminals — as far as I can see, this brings us much closer to the realm of mortal sin. And the sinners include not just the church hierarchy, but also attorneys who ill-advised parents not to buck the system and take on the Catholic Church, or may even have provided inside information to thwart legitimate cases against the church, law enforcement officials who may have thought it best to warn church officials of pending investigations, and janitors, housekeepers, teachers, and employees of the Catholic Church who kept silent because of concerns about a paycheck, a 401K, a pension, or a fear of standing up to church authorities. God has a place for everyone — and if you abuse children or protect the abusers of children, we can only hope that your place is called hell.

Belgium will not exist in its current political union in a few years, it will go the split-up way of Yugoslavia. All this stuff is just drama to change the subject from the inevitable.

We are not living in normal times.

It is very hard to be hopeful about the future of the church. In spite of evidence to the contrary I believe the church Christ started will not only survive, but be reformed as well. The actions of the hierarchy have brought about a crisis of authority. It is not just the bishops uniform, corrupt. worldwide coverup of crimes against children that bothers me (as bad as that is). What bothers me most is the Pope's refusal to acknowledge that the cover up was wrong. The communiques coming from the Vatican are full of excuses. There is only an adamant refusal to accept their obvious failure and blame. While it is understandable that they don't like the accusations against them, it is absurd for them to defend the indefensible. It flies in the face of credulity that some high officials in the Vatican did not know about the cover up of these crimes against children. The cover up pattern is too widespread and too uniform not to have been secretly directed from above.
The Vatican will try as it has to make excuses. It will try to place blame on secularism as if society decided to cover up the crimes and cause additional children to be violated. How absurd is that thinking!!! I'm sure the cover up procedure has worked well for centuries in our medieval church. In such times scandals could be kept localized. That still does not make it right. As abhorrent as the original crimes were, to have them covered up so that more children became victims is intolerable. On top of that, the Vatican wants to defend the defrocking process that takes 30 years from the date of the crime. This is not defensible. Justice delayed is justice denied as they say. The Vatican's responses are totally unacceptable and very troubling. I fear the pope has decided to respond only to the "priests scandal,"and at the same time deny and ignore the Bishops' Abuse of Power Scandal. This is a partial truth which must be opposed if future generations of children are to be protected. Partial truths are lies and deceptions. The exposed corrupt hierarchy cannot regain their lost credibility and authority with such denial of responsibility. I have no faith that anyone in the American hierarchy has the moral integrity to defy the Vatican and expose Rome's collusion in the cover up. I do not have any faith that the pope will admit Rome's role in creating cover up policies, procedures, and/or direct and indirect consultations regarding allegations against pedophile priests. True reform of the hierarchy may only come with the next pope. I pray it does for only then will the shame begin to lift.

How do you dare write such drivel in a Catholic publication? To condone the desecration of the graves of bishops at the hands of an anti-Catholic government is unbelievable. I would expect to find such trash in the New York Times, but not in a Catholic publication. You owe our bishops the filial respect due of all Catholics.

As was said and repeated in the above comments, this is a well-written and well-documented article and proves the maxim, "Truth is the antidote to scandal."

The item I latched on to was this. Mr. Sipes concludes and emphasizes by example, that the problem of episcopal malfeasance comes down to very deep-seated clerical culture. Professor Eugene Kennedy, using a different literary genre, came to this same conclusion with the same phrase, "clerical culture" recently. Both, in their own way, called for a reform of clerical culture. Should not the rest of us join our voices to this cause?

Thank you Richard for further exposing the corruption of the American hierarchy. The bishops have no integrity left and certainly no shame. They have no accountability except to Rome. I do not consider them Americans anymore. They should no longer be considered citizens of this country since they are not subject to our laws. What galls me even more is their use of the laity's hard earned money to avoid prosecution. They are morally bankrupt.
If the laity of the church were outraged enough and could organize a reform group, I would have some hope. But the only laity who have any power are those blindly obedient catholics who always defend the hierarchy. Part of the problem is pastors don't want any reform groups meeting in their parishes because that will get them in trouble with their bishop. People in the pews usually like their pastor. Even if a pastor let a group form they would have no power to stop parish funds from being automatically being sent to the Bishop every week so he can fund his legal defense. Who knows what the bishop is spending his money on, only his loyal hand picked staff who don't want to lose their paychecks. I see no chance for reform at the parish level or diocesan level.
As far as the government indicting and prosecuting goes, I think the time has passed because there is no longer any public outcry, and without it prosecutors are reluctant to press charges. They have no courage. They are politicians just like the bishops are. They network and move in the same "power circles." I see no visible signs of opposition to the bishops.
Some people are angry, but not angry enough to try to do any thing about it.
Your questio, "Did Belgium get it right?" Yes, they did. Obviously we as Americans did not.