A statue of Mary is seen in front of a poster of Pope Francis as it is carried through the streets outside the Pastoral Congress at the World Meeting of Families in Dublin, Ireland. (HANNAH MCKAY/Reuters)ColumnistThe major disgrace of America’s Catholic bishops was to foster a culture in which priests sexually assaulted children and were then sent on to new duties as their ungodly behavior was covered up. After all, since the 1980s and 1990s, we have known a great deal about the church’s malfeasance, and yet we held on. Defenders of the church note that the bishops’ 2002 reforms dealing with abusive priests, though imperfect, made a difference. The leadership has resolutely avoided a searching inquiry into how the church’s culture and structure contributed to a catastrophic failure of accountability.

Source: Washington Post August 26, 2018 23:37 UTC