An NCR(eporter) article on the audit

There is no intention to give the impression,” Gregory told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer following the report’s release, that the bishops have “solved the problem.”

Back in their dioceses, however, that was just the impression some were giving. After two years on the defensive, church public relations professionals finally had something with which to work — a document, one that had the imprimatur of “independence,” that generally lauded the bishops’ efforts.

Two examples from many: “Independent Audit Finds Diocese of Bridgeport in ‘Total Compliance’ with Dallas Charter” is how that Connecticut diocese headlined the findings, though the word “total” is absent from the report. Atlanta church officials, meanwhile, heralded “Full Compliance and Commendation Result from Gavin Group Audit,” though the archdiocese also received a less flattering “recommendation” from the auditors and the adjective “full” was not a modifier employed by the auditors.

I think that someday in the future, when the history of this is written with some sort of perspective, people are going to look back at a problem that was, in essence, a protection racket – abusing priests (and bishops) being protected by their fellow priests and bishops with absolutely no structural or moral accountability,and, as I said a few days ago, no sense of being accountable to God, and they’re going to look at these “solutions”, which mainly involve putting more burdens on lay people and children, and they’re going to think, “Oh, so that’s how it’s done?”