Redirection in Boston

Horrifying numbers came out this week about the scope of the Roman Catholic pedophilia crisis, and I'm dismayed by what Archbishop O'Malley of the Boston archdiocese had to say about them: "We must all do everything that we can to make sure that the scourge of child abuse not only within the church but in the wider society as well is wiped clean from our midst."

Even this apparently well-intended friar, who succeeded the disgraced Cardinal Law, can't refrain from lashing out at society--when no one but the church was talking about society. The church's standard defense throughout the sex scandal, from the pope on down, has been: society is wanton and immoral, so of course some of our priests are going to molest children. That dubious line of reasoning aside, did society cover up the crimes and transfer molesting clerics from one unknowing parish to another?

I'm tired of the blaming. Given the disastrous way the priests have dealt with their church's problems, I shudder to think what would happen if they were in charge of fixing society's problems, too.